Meltdown
by IHaveAMessedUpSenseOfHumor
Summary: 'I can't even look at him.' A case of manslaughter/murder sends Team 5D's into disarray. Perhaps the testaments of the parties involved will shine some light on things. Treason and ToolShipping with a side-order of TricksterShipping and disturbing onesided murder love. There is a chapter for every character involved. Rated M for Murder/Manslaughter oh and Man things.
1. Jack

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **Weirdness fill set in after the first paragraph, mindscrew by eight and going mad from the revelation by the end. I wanted a twist ending damn it and without a fourth party narrating there is no way it was going to happen.

Meltdown

Yuusei had always liked to put things in order. His D-Wheel, his deck, his life and certainly his boyfriends were neatly arranged. Bruno stayed over here and Kiryu was visited in Satisfaction Town and all was well. And never were the twain to meet. But oops Yuusei the world is a small, small place that you could drown in if you dared to breathe. And so the two meet and everything fell apart. Surprisingly only one person died that night but this death sent us all into the depths of despair. I still have nightmares about that night.

Lua screamed first. That little tagalong saw what we didn't. A body being roughly forced over a bannister. Two men staring at the ground and running down the stairs. The scent of fresh kill wafting on the summer breeze. No one else saw it, it seems until that scream. Then Aki ran over to see who was shoved. She screamed too, quite distinctly Aki. Crow was last to notice. He didn't scream of course, he cried. I acted tough and cool and someone called Sector Security. Didn't get here in time of course. He just bled to death on the sidewalk. How did that song go? 'And everybody loved him as he died.' Yeah that sums it up quite perfectly.

Yuusei tells me everything. He always has and always will. He told me what happened with Bruno and Kiryu. They met in an electronics store he said. Bonded over the newest D-Wheel. Kiryu brought him up. Bruno brought him up. They realized that Yuusei was keeping them both and all hell broke loss. The silver haired man screamed and left that place he said. Bruno called Yuusei about it. They were looking for fights with each other after that. Yuusei would do nothing to stop it. Not choosing and not telling them to stop. What about bonds Yuusei? Are you to scared to lose one that you hold onto them all?

Yuusei won't answer me. I don't think he can. I don't think he would if he could either. I think that the very thought of the accident makes him sick to the pit of his collapsed stomach. It makes me sick. I keep writing him letters but he never replies to them either. Crow thinks I've gone crazy. I haven't. I am just talking to things that can't reply. Yuusei, Yuusei is such a special man. This is such a tragedy.

Earlier on that day, when the sun was still seeable above the rising dark Kiryu had come to the place. Bruno growled at him and he smiled back. The silver haired man embraced his lover with the cheating heart. Bruno glared at him. I was sitting on the couch drinking coffee, Lua and Ruka were talking about Sly, Crow was out working and Aki was by the fridge staring at the scene with her hazel eyes. Carly showed up and bounced up and down for a bit. Yuusei went to work on his D-Wheel and Bruno and Kiryu went at it. For a pacifist the man's really got quite a bite. Kiryu and him fought for a bit before Yuusei returned and they acted as if nothing were wrong. No one gived enough damns to tell the man. I certainly didn't and I payed for it.

Funny thing even though the two thought over Yuusei so much I'm the one that got all his love in the end. It was worth it just to spite the two. Yeah worth it. Standing here as the breeze touches me. One hand left roses on the grave.

Anyway before the tangent. Crow came home and Kiryu opened the door. The two hugged and I told 'em to get a room. Crow galred at me and Kiryu punched me in the shoulder. Bruno was being passive-aggressive and eating my ramen. It was annoying as hell. I ignored the men and continued downing the coffee. It was gone quickly though and as an excuse to escape the tension I went to make myself more. Aki stood by the fridge and closed her eyes. She looked so dull. Poor Aki was nothing after Yuusei saved her. Yuusei is the worst hero ever really. He saved Kiryu and he tried to kill himself. He saved me and I'll never be important to anyone again. He saved her and she lost all her bite. Better than the rest of us though, deep down etched into her skin, no bones, no soul, is all the pain and hate waiting to resurface. I looked at her and said hey and she said hey back and closed her eyes. I made the coffee with water. I burnt the water and spilled it everywhere. I took a rag to mop it up and didn't turn the stove off. I was too angry to remember it. I walked back into the living room and Crow's dumbass boyfriend showed up. Crow opened the door for him and smiled. And he walked in. Yuusei was sitting in between Bruno and Kiryu with a hand on both of their's.

He never held my hand like that. But he does now; it's all he can do. If this is his idea of bonds then what was ours? Nothing? I've always loved Yuusei, just like everyone does. I kiss his cold lips again.

"Jack?" He asks me.

Anyway everyone started talking at once. Brave and Crow about trickster nonsense, Aki and Carly about me, Lua and Ruka about whatever children think and the three lovers about which one Yuusei would choose. I sniffed the air. I asked if anyone smelt burning. I stood up and walked to the kitchen. The stove had set the curtains aflame and with them the rest of the place. I knew buying those would screw me over. Yuusei ushered Lua and Ruka out the front door and Brave and Crow followed. Aki and Carly went to grab all the technology. I stayed with Bruno and Kiryu and went around grabbing cards. We spent so long looking for the twins that the house had begun to burn even more. I ran up the stairs of the roof and was followed by the two. Standing there the people below looked up at me and I felt like I was king.

I have always wanted people to adore me. The thrill of the fight and the adoration of the crowds is all I have ever asked for. All I have ever wanted for. I did want someone else's love. The love of Yuusei. Always adoring them. Replacing me with a nutjob and a man that's practically a robot. I hate him. I hate them. The sun illuminated me quite beautifully. I looked heavenly.

"Jack...don't." Yuusei begs as I hold the knife against his beautiful throat.

"Are you cold yet?" I ask the smaller man.

"We can fix this."

"No, it's too late now isn't it?"

Bruno freaked out and started screaming about Yuusei. Kiryu slapped him and told him we'd be fine. I lost it. I ranted on about how Yuusei and I were tuned together, perfectly bonded and that they were just cheap things to break. Bruno punched me in the face and Kiryu snapped my fingers. I hit the blue haired man back and swept the legs from under Kiryu. The two of them tackled me.

"Jack please don't do this. You are a good person. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I didn't love you." Yuusei whines.

I dig the knife in.

"It's all your fault!" I scream.

I fell over the bars and my body hit the ground. Bruno ran down the stairs in fear and Kiryu after him. Lua screamed. As I fell into darkness I smelled the scent of fresh kill. Aki ran over to see who fell.

"It's Jack!" She screamed.

Yuusei called Sector Security. Brave passed out and Crow cried into my shoulder.

"I-it's alright." I said as I died.

I died surrounded by my friends but Yuusei didn't even care about my death. I visited him all the time afterwards and he never said anything to me or even looked at me.

"Sayonara Yuusei Fudou." I smile as I slit his throat.

A shaking hand grasps his throat and holds the blood in. Bruno here's him screaming and runs right through me. He holds Yuusei's hand as he dies. Kiryu runs after him and holds Yuusei's other hand. Smiling with tears in his cobalt eyes the cheating heart looks up at both of them.

"I love you and I'm sorry." He smiles.

Kiryu's already sobbing and Bruno is trying to remain even slightly composed. Why would I do this? What did I gain? Yuusei will always love them and not me. I am nothing. I stare blankly at the three as Bruno rips a part of his shirt off and wraps it around Yuusei's neck. Kiryu and Bruno carry him to a nearby hospital. Yuusei begins thrashing around and the blood-soaked shirt falls off. He bleeds to death on a dirty sidewalk with two angry men and a ghost. Kiryu laughs and Bruno holds his face with his hands. I walk off into the nothing of death. I deserve only hell for this sin. For the pain I have brought to all my friends. The two men kiss Yuusei goodnight as he walks away with me. I can't even look at him.


	2. Crow

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

Meltdown

"Always have to steal the show don't ya Jack? Couldn't have kept your stupid mouth shut could ya? No, far too proud for that. You stroll in like a God and tell the two with a deep and burning rivalry. He loves me you said with a disgustingly self-satisfied smirk. You're an idiot you know. If you ever read this than I just want you to know that. I hate you. I hate the fact that every single thing you do is more important than me. I was going to ask Yuusei to be my best man. I was getting married but thanks to you being a selfish little prick that didn't happen. I hate you. Do you know how long I cried at your funeral? Do you know that Yuusei had to pull me off that damn tombstone that was the largest in the graveyard? Do you know that I tried to kill myself for you? Do you know anything at all? Or are you really as fucking stupid as everyone says you are? You made Brave cry. He cried cause while on a roof with two unstable men you pushed your luck and they pushed you. If you're really that dumb then it's great that you died. Let's call it natural selection shall we? Fuck it, I'm crying right now. I swear that if you don't get this I will die to give it to you than resurrect myself so I can fucking laugh about it. I hate you. Take good care of Yuusei you Yandere."

The letter I brought to the proud man's grave reads.

"It's his fault anyway." I mutter.

Brave shakes his head.

"Crow for one it wasn't and two you need to stop with the letters, he isn't coming back." He says with a soft voice.

"Oh no, I know he can see them. Stupid prick isn't one to die so easily. If he died in his sleep without a word then I wouldn't have cared, get it?"

"No, not really."

On the car ride home Brave's crazy friend keeps staring through the mirror at me. Dumbass.

"I heard that you've been sending letters to Jack. Has he answered by any chance?" The soft-spoken man questions.

"No, do you think I'd keep going back if he answered?" I snarl.

Harald stops the car in the middle of the road.

"He's moved on. The letters are pointless." Dragan mumbles.

I glare at them. Brave glares at them as well.

"If Crow says he hasn't then he hasn't." The treasure hunter pouts.

Harald sighs. A chorus of horns and buzzes and screams of 'Move out of the way fucker' comes from behind. Harald starts the car up again. I stare out of the window. When did it start raining? It's a terrible day for rain. Harald pulls the car into my driveway.

"I don't see why we have to cart them around town like we're their parents." Dragan grumbles.

"We are." Harald smirks. "I'm the father and you-"

"I dare you finish that you pointy nosed freak." The dark man growls.

"Are the mother." The lighter one smiles.

I get out the car. Their arguments are so childish. I hate them. I seem to hate everyone. That's not true, I don't hate Brave.

I take out my key and open the door to the cold garage. Ah yes I forget, Yuusei's dead. It's raining in here too. I take out the pen I've started always keeping on me.

"Jack answer me this time will ya? Me and Brave are getting real close. Do you see it? I've started hanging out with his crazy friends too. Not as fun as you and Yuusei are though. You dumbass, hurry up and come and see me. I'm sorry I said I hated you I was just angry. Couldn't believe you were dead. You made me cry. Do you remember when you told me about the five stages of grief? Have you ever been in grief? Yuusei went through them all ya know. So there's nothing left to say really except that if you come home I promise I'll never fight with either of you again 'kay?"

I put down the pen and walk into the empty room, Jack's room. I rest my head on his pillow. Why won't it stop raining? It smells like pride.

Fuck I fell asleep in Jack's room again. The more I sleep in there the less it smells like pride and the more it smells like me. What do I even smell like? Probably bird. Letter's still there. Guess Jack's giving me the cold shoulder. I said I was sorry didn't I? I did, I did. Obviously still holds grudges. Stupid old Jack. My phone rings. I hold the small object to my ear.

"Hey there black bird." Brave's voice chirps.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask the other trickstar.

"Nothing bored. Harald and Dragan are bickering and the TV got thrown again."

"Ow, is Harald alright?"

"Course he is, he's the one that threw it."

"Damn. It's not safe to stay with them. Come to the garage."

"Nu-uh. I've got stuff to do when Harald puts the knife down."

"If you come than I'll do whatever you want."

"Whatever I want black bird?"

"Yeah."

I clean up the room enough so it looks presentable for him. He's got a spare key right? Three knocks come against my door. That was fast. I open the door. Brave stands there with a smile.

"Hey black bird." He winks.

"Yeah hey, I cleaned." I mention.

"Hmn, it still looks like crap."

"Why are you tall Nordic types always so rude?"

"We're European, rich and sexy Crow, we can afford to be rude."

"Wait you actually have money? I thought you two just mooched of Harald."

"You really think so lowly of me black bird?"

"No-"

I'm silenced by a kiss.

"Now black bird you said anything."

Brave smirks and pushes me onto the floor.

"Anything means anything right?" His voice is barely a whisper in my ear.

He fiddles with the zipper on my pants. Nice job at foreplay. I fucking hate European customs.

"Yeah Brave I guess it does. Are you really going to do it so quickly?"

"Well I have to, I have work at home."

"Isn't it our first time?"

"Yours maybe and ours as a couple sure."

I twitch.

"Don't you want to make it special?" I ask the other trickstar.

"No not really, making things special is always too long for me. I just wanna do things spontaneously. Don't you?"

"Yeah but I don't want you to rush on us."

"I'm not rushing. Look if you don't want to then we don't have to."

He sits up and pouts. Not gonna work this time.

"Well I do but you don't seem to care about how we're gonna do this."

"Well how do you want to do this?"

"First off on a bed, second of foreplay is a thing you know, three I swear if you fuck me and walk off then I'll rip off your balls."

"Fine, as you wish black bird."

Brave nuzzles my neck and carries me to the bed. I wriggle in his arms. He smiles and lays me down on the bed. I laugh and allow him to remove my pants.

"Heh, you look adorable." He comments.

He kisses my neck and starts slowly running his hand though my naturally tangled hair. His phone rings. He stands up.

"Just let me get this black bird." Brave smiles.

I sit up as well.

"Oh my God you idiot! Why would you do that?" Brave asks. "I don't care if it was an accident, you could have hurt yourself."

"What is it?" I ask him.

"Dragan jumped out the window." He sighs.

"Leave him be, he's an adult." I frown.

"Not that easy black bird, as you used to say about your team, they are my bonds."

I smell pride. Oh shit, we were gonna fuck on Jack's bed. He'd be so pissed. I wrap his pillow around my head. I feel like I'm cheating on Brave sorta. I grab a pen and begin to write again.

"Jack you're dead aren't you? You moved on. I accept that now. Just when I die let me go with you. I think that I'm in love with your memory. It's stupid isn't it? I'm in love with my memories of you, the scent of your pride, these letters that you can't ever answer. Please Jack if you are in some kind of afterlife let me come too. It's a terrible day for rain isn't it?"

I drop the letter onto the bed. A shimmer of chill passes through me. Aki walks in.

"Sleeping on Jack's bed again I see. It's alright I've been sleeping on Yuusei's." She smiles sadly.

"It's a terrible day for rain isn't it Aki?"

"Crow is hasn't rained for months."

"It's a terrible day for rain."

"Ah."

She sits by me with rain falling on her face as well. The bed doesn't smell like pride anymore. It smells like grief.


	3. Brave

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **I'm sorry I'm such a lazy ass. Here take my update.

Meltdown

He's been leaving a lot of letters for Jack. He needs to let go. It's depressing. The poor man needs to let go and let the former King rest. Everyone dies eventually, even heroes die. No, heroes die early. Heroes die after their job on Earth is done. And heroes don't die, they're killed. A double case of murder for our Shining Star and former King. Our. I can't very well say it like that; after all they aren't my friends. Jack never had any qualms about reminding me about that.

"It's his fault anyway." Crow mumbles.

I shake my head with frustration.

"Crow for one it wasn't and two you need to stop with the letters, he isn't coming back." I try to console him.

"Oh no, I know he can see them. Stupid prick isn't one to die so easily. If he died in his sleep without a word then I wouldn't have cared, get it?" Crow replies.

"No, not really." I inform him.

Harald is staring at my blackbird through his rear view mirror.

"I heard that you've been sending letters to Jack. Has he answered by any chance?" Harald asks with genuine kindness.

"No, do you think I'd keep going back if he answered?" Crow growls.

Harald stops the car in the middle of the road as he does when he get's particularly upset. Oh blackbird.

"He's moved on. The letters are pointless." Dragan snorts.

Crow makes another growl and I glare at the two.

"If Crow says he hasn't then he hasn't." I sigh.

Harald sighs. A chorus of horns and buzzes and screams of 'Move out of the way fucker' comes from behind. Harald starts the car up again. I stare out of the window. When did it start raining? It's a terrible day for rain.

"I don't see why we have to cart them around town like we're their parents." Dragan grumbles.

"We are." Harald smirks. "I'm the father and you-"

"I dare you finish that you pointy nosed freak." My teammate snarls.

"Are the mother." My leader finishes defiantly.

Crow growls and leaves the car with a slam. Harald chuckles.

"Did I say something wrong?" He laughs.

"No I think he's just having problems moving on." I breathe.

"Well whatever, come time to go back to our apartment." He shrugs.

Of course Harald bought an apartment rather than simply renting one or getting some hotel rooms. He figures I'll keep visiting until Crow and I get hitched or something and then I'll live here and he and Dragan will visit us. Harald and Dragan, saw that coming. After all we seem to be Harald's only friends. He's not the easiest person to get along with. Annoyingly. He's much more aggressive then I had first thought. He also has great aim. Think about it. Yeah.

We pull up to the large building and I crawl out over Dragan. I crawl over him because it makes him angry. His face literally distorts with rage when I do this.

"Brave I swear to God if you fucking crawl over my lap one more fucking time I'll fucking strangle you with your boyfriend." Dragan screams.

Norwegians swear a lot. Dragan once had me watch the news with him, it was literally like this. 'Welcome to the fucking news.'

"How on Earth would that work?" Harald laughs.

"What?" Dragan asks.

Here it comes, the best part.

"How on Earth would you strangle Brave with Crow?" Harald repeats himself with a blank face.

"Fuck you." Dragan swears.

Dragan really doesn't take it well when people blow holes in his empty threats. Time to go inside.

"And here you go getting all defensive again. This is why I can't take you anywhere nice." Harald mentions.

"You are the worst, I hate you." Dragan whines.

"Okay baby." Harald smiles.

Dragan gives him a look like he's just killed his mother and slams the door open and then closed.

"When I lose those doors I am billing you." The Swede mentions as he slams the door.

"You just did it!" The Norwegian complains.

"Ah but I did it far more gentle than you." The silverette chuckles.

"Just get in the fucking apartment you dick."

"As you wish."

I trail slightly behind them. Don't want to get caught in this kind of mess. Ever. They can get terrifying.

We actually get to the door alive. Harald looks like he's going to eat us. No he seriously does. He opens the door and shoves Dragan in.

"Ladies first." He laughs before closing his mouth into a teeth baring smile.

"Yeah well pearls before swine." Dragan growls.

"Age before beauty."

"Aren't you thirty four?"

"I'm sorry but not everyone can age gracefully. You'll probably go bald."

"Don't think so, besides you're already going white."

"This is my natural hair colour."

"Sure it is."

"Yes, and what about the bright yellow highlights in your hair?"

"My dad has them."

"And my mother has silver hair as well."

"Oh so you take after your mother then, explains a lot."

"Yes, after all my mother did fall in love with an effeminate omega."

"Effeminate? I could bench press your fucking car you pussy."

"Yes but I was in the army, remember?"

"You were in the air force."

"And your point is?"

"Oh nothing pointdexter."

"Well not everyone can have strength, beauty and brains. You only have one of those. Hint, hint, it's not the first one or the last one."

"Well at least I have fucking morals you rich bitch!"

"When you have money like mine you can afford to be rich."

Well this is going to end badly. Time to check on blackbird. I pull out my phone and dial his number.

"Hey there black bird." I chirp.

"Hey, what's up?" The other trickstar asks.

The TV goes crashing through with Dragan behind it.

"Nothing bored. Harald and Dragan are bickering and the TV got thrown again." I mention.

"Ow, is Harald alright?" Blackbird asks.

Silly him.

"Course he is, he's the one that threw it." I remark.

"Damn. It's not safe to stay with them. Come to the garage."

D'aww, Crow cares about my safety. So cute. Harald picks up a knife and Dragan by the collar. The Swede is bleeding from the nose into his mouth.

"Put me down! Isn't this extreme for a nose bleed?" Dragan screams.

"You want to hurt me! So I'll hurt you in return!" Harald whimpers.

D'aww, they love each other so much.

"Nu-uh. I've got stuff to do when Harald puts the knife down." I mention after the pause.

"If you come than I'll do whatever you want." Crow offers.

Anything?

"Whatever I want black bird?" I try to confirm.

"Yeah."

Great! I take Harald's keys off the table.

"Gotta go, bye!" I cheer as I run outside.

"Bye Brave." Dragan calls.

"Come back before it gets too late." Harald calls as well.

"Yeah, yeah." I yell.

I open the car and hop into the front seat. The car's sparkling white. Gonna mess it up. Gonna get my blackbird and have sex in this car. And then give it back and act like I have no idea where the mess came from. And Harald will be pissed but it will be funny.

I pull up and Crow's garage shortly. I rap on the door three times before he opens. I put on the biggest smile I can as he throws the door open. His hands are covered in ink. Not again. I'll just ignore it.

"Hey black bird." I wink.

"Yeah hey, I cleaned." He awkwardly insists.

Doesn't look much cleaner.

"Hmn, it still looks like crap." I reply.

"Why are you tall Nordic types always so rude?"

D'aww, I'm a tall Nordic type. Wait... I'm from Brazil. Not sure Hoagie knows that though.

"We're European, rich and sexy Crow, we can afford to be rude."

Yup, European.

"Wait you actually have money? I thought you two just mooched of Harald."

Rude.

"You really think so lowly of me black bird?"

"No-"

I shut him up with a kiss.

"Now black bird you said anything."

I grin and shove him to the floor.

"Anything means anything right?" I whisper in his ear.

I fiddle with the zipper on his pants. This will be great. I'm so going to fuck up Harald's car. It'll be so funny.

"Yeah Brave I guess it does. Are you really going to do it so quickly?"

"Well I have to, I have work at home."

"Isn't it our first time?"

"Yours maybe and ours as a couple sure."

"Don't you want to make it special?" He whimpers.

"No not really, making things special is always too long for me. I just wanna do things spontaneously. Don't you?"

"Yeah but I don't want you to rush on us."

"I'm not rushing. Look if you don't want to then we don't have to."

I sit up and pout. He frowns even more.

"Well I do but you don't seem to care about how we're gonna do this."

"Well how do you want to do this?"

"First off on a bed, second off foreplay is a thing you know, three I swear if you fuck me and walk off then I'll rip off your balls."

"Fine, as you wish blackbird."

I nuzzle his neck and carry him to the bedroom. He wiggles and coos like a baby bird. Preciousness. My blackbird is preciousness. I lay him down on the bed. The blackbird laughs like he did before and I slide of his jeans.

"Heh. You look adorable." I comment.

Before he can say anything I kiss him again. I run my hands through his hair. It's always so messy. My phone rings. Crow sighs. I pick it up.

"Just let me get this blackbird." I sigh.

"Uh yeah I jumped out the window and hurt my back. Could you come over maybe?" Dragan coughs.

"Oh my God! You idiot! Why would you do that?"

"It was an accident."

"I don't care if it was an accident, you could have hurt yourself."

"Uh I did."

I hang up.

"What was it?" Crow asks.

"Dragan jumped out a window." I sigh.

"Leave it be, he's an adult after all." The trickstar growls.

"Not that easy blackbird. As you say about your team they are my bonds."

I leave while Crow frowns. I sweep the keys up and climb into the front seat. My poor blackbird. It's a terrible day for rain.

I pull up to the apartment and Harald has a heat pack to Dragan's bare back. I frown.

"You seem like you've got this. Why'd you bother me?" I ask.

"You have my car and Dragan needs to go to the hospital." Harald smiles.

"Why? His back looks fine."

"The multiple stab wounds that's why. He was bleeding to death on the pavement outside."

"So lemme get this straight, you called me because you stabbed Dragan and he jumped out the window and needs to go to the hospital. You called me from my depressed boyfriend that needs my help. What the hell is wrong with you? The stab wounds aren't even that bad?"

"We don't want you to marry Crow and leave." Dragan admits.

"So you jumped out the window?" I scream. "You are the worst friends!"

I storm out. It's a terrible day for rain. Dragan comes out without his shirt and hugs me.

"You'd just forget about us." He mutters.

"I wouldn't!" I defend.

"You would." Harald mentions.

"I wouldn't! Know let me return to my blackbird!" I cry.

Harald nods and sighs. Dragan bites his lips.

"I will drive you." Harald speaks.

"You do that." I sneer.

Dragan get's in first I crawl over his lap as usual. He frowns at that but unlike usual he doesn't say anything.

"Are you really that angry?" Dragan mutters.

"Yes I am. You two are the worst friends ever." I whine.

"We are. I just didn't want you to leave." Harald says with a waver in his voice.

"Whatever." I pout.

The rain starts trickling down. Seems like it's only raining here. Weird.

"What a terrible day for rain." Harald remarks.

More silence. A truck is going down the wrong lane. Weird. Wait isn't this o-

"Harald!" Dragan yells.

And now there's light. It's very bright though. Dragan is groaning.

"Brave do not move there is a piece of metal through your stomach." He moans.

More silence. No not silence, we have a crowd.

"B-Brave." Harald chokes.

I try to speak but only blood comes out.

"I'm sorry I must have ruined your day." He breathes.

"Brave, Harald, stop. You'll be fine." Dragan coughs. "Somebody call an ambulance!"

I hear multiple cameras. Are they taking pictures? Oh well. I'm going to sleep. It's a terrible day for rain.

"Brave. Brave! BRAVE! Wake up Brave! Wake up! Wake up! Somebody call someone! Please!" Dragan calls.

"Let the boy sleep." Harald murmurs. "He's tired."

"Uh, Brave wake up! Wake up! Please wake up!"

Terrible day for rain. It really obstructs vision. Oh what's that siren? Is it for me? It's too loud.


	4. Harald

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

Meltdown

"Let the boy sleep he's tired." I mutter.

Brave has been through a lot and he's probably trying to get some rest.

"Uh, Brave wake up! Wake up! Please wake up!" My other half sobs.

Wake up. Truck. Rain. Bright lights. No. Oh no. I tilt my head. Brave's, oh.

"Listen to me very carefully Dragan. Do not try to move Brave. The sirens are the police not an ambulance." I cough.

"But he'll die!" Dragan reasons.

"Dragan if you move him you may remove the metal and then he will bleed to death."

Dragan holds back tears and nods.

"It's not that bad." I mention.

"You're right. It's harder for us to die isn't it?" Dragan whimpers.

"Not exactly right. Each one of us has our own death prevention system. You are Godly durable, Brave has a healing factor and I have The Sight. If Brave can live past this he will be able to heal, albeit not as fast as you see in movies. I should have seen this coming. Why didn't I see it?"

"I don't know, is there anything I should do?"

"Yes, one don't panic again, two face the fact that he might die, three make sure no one moves Brave, four see who's in the truck and five don't die."

"Four of those are common sense you stupid fuck."

"Insulting me in a time like this?"

"I'm trying to not panic! Insulting you is the easiest way."

"You need to stop talking and just do what I say."

"Fine."

Dragan shuffles over to the truck. Grand. Now where am I bleeding? Can I move my hands? I can not move my hands. Can I move my legs? I can not move my legs? Where is the steering wheel? I look down. The steering wheel is in my chest. Alright. The steering wheel is in my chest. That explains why it's getting harder to breathe. I will move to the side. My chest hurts. I have broken a rib. Alright.

"The guy in here's alright!" Dragan calls.

Grand. I would die if I had killed someone. Die? Bad choice of words. One of my arms is rather loose. I move it upwards. And the arm is bruised but not bleeding. Alright. That's alright. It's all alright. I touch my forehead. I am not bleeding there. Is my chest bleeding? Yes my chest is bleeding. As a rib is broken it could have punctured a vital organ. Problematic but irrelevant right now. Dragan's back.

"Check Brave." I choke.

I hear a sharp crack.

"No, speak to him." I correct.

"Brave are you awake?" Dragan asks.

"Ya." Brave gurgles.

"It's not that bad, walk it off." Dragan growls.

When he gets scared he panics and then he gets angry. Alright.

"He can not." I mention.

Dragan growls again.

"How much blood is on his face?" I question.

"Uh, a lot."

"Where is it?"

"Mostly his chin and cheeks."

"He's coughing it up. Or rather hemorrhaging. What colour is it?"

"Some of it's red and some of it's brownish."

"Ah. Some of it is from his sinuses and the other from his stomach. This is bad. There is nothing you can do. Has anyone called one, one, nine?"

"I don't know."

"Ask."

"Has anyone called one, one, nine?" Dragan shouts.

"I have." Someone speaks.

"Hey aren't you security?" Dragan asks.

"I am. My name is Kazama and I'm here for the man in the truck. He's an escapee from a prison." Kazama makes known.

"This guy's a criminal?" Dragan seeks to reaffirm.

"Yes." Kazama repeats.

"Dragan make sure Brave isn't going unconscious." I command.

"Alright."

I tilt my head to look at Brave again. He's alright. Alright. Time to worry about myself. Can I move a leg? No. They are both pinned. Alright. I could wiggle free maybe? If necessary. Otherwise movement is bad.

"He's alright passed out!" Dragan cries.

"Calm down. Make sure he doesn't choke on his own tongue."

"Choke on his tongue?"

"Yes. When people fall unconscious their tongue sometimes rolls back into their head. After a while their soft palette and their tongue relax allowing the tongue to block the airways."

"What if he does?"

"You reach it and you pull it back."

Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine.

"Harald?"

"Yes?"

"Are you okay?"

Am I okay? Am I okay? Brave's the problematic one. He's seriously injured. I feel fine. I feel fine. I think.

"Yes, yes, I think."

"Let me look at you."

"No! Watch Brave."

"But Hara-"

"Don't disobey an order!"

Dragan growls. Dragan is always so angry. Sometimes I think he can not be truly happy. After all even his smiles are laced with popping veins and clenched fists. I think I pity that and envy that. It's better to be angry than to be sad I know this. Yet I feel the sting of sadness more often than I ought. Dragan never seems to feel sad though. I'm so proud.

"An explosion happened in the city! I'm sorry but most of the emergency services were diverted there." Kazama explains.

"So the ambulance won't get here?" Dragan snarls.

"I'm afraid not. I could take him in my car but you'd have to be with him and so would your friend because I don't have anybody with me with medical knowledge." Kazama informs.

"It's no problem!" Dragan screams.

"Uh okay, I'll help you pull them out." Kazama mutters.

"Do not move Brave too fast." I inform.

A crack and a wiggle and a blergh and a drip and a drip.

"What did you do?" I question.

"We made the hole bigger!" Dragan cries.

"You fools. Quickly get him to the hospital." I nearly shriek.

"The nearest is a good half hour away, probably longer with the traffic influx." Kazama explains.

"Pick one off the traffic routes!" I do shriek.

"That one's an hour away!" Kazama shrieks back.

"Then speed!" I demand.

Dragan starts bending the metal so I can escape.

"This is a feat even for you." I bring up.

"Not now Harald." Dragan growls.

He breaks me out and carries me over his shoulder. Dragan sets me down in the back seat. He sits beside me and allows my head to lie against his shoulder.

"Dragan are you okay?" I ask.

His bones and his skin are tough but I am not sure that his internal organs and blood vessels are.

"Yeah Harald. I feel like I'm going to puke but I'm perfectly fine."

"I am glad." I manage to spit out.

The toll of my injuries is hitting me. It will be alright though. I will not die so easy. The roar of the motor is soothing. I will sleep for a little while.

"Dragan I am tired. No I am not dying. I am only tired. Please wake me up if something happens."

"I will alright? You deserve a nap. You only have bruises and the broken rib so you should be fine.

"Are you sure you are alright?" I yawn.

"Yes." Dragan smiles.

"Please always be alright." I whine.

I will sleep. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In Out. The roar of the motor is soothing. It'll be alright. In. Out. Out. Out. Out. In.


	5. Kazama

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **By the way in case you haven't noticed this is slightly AU-y. It's a what if fic. The what if being what if someone else was dicking with the timestream causing everything to go differently.Hey Imma explain the timeline now cause some people may be confuzzled. Jack's was about a week before Crow's. Crow's and Brave's happen at the same time. Harald's and Kazama's happen at the same time up to when they get in the car as it then continues. Dragan's happens about four hours ahead. Divine's is at the same time as Crow's and Brave's. Any more would be super duper spoilers. So here's

Meltdown

Om nom nom. Mmn, jellybeans. My console starts buzzing. I drop the bag at the news.

"Divine has escaped. You are the only one near him. I'm sorry Kaz." Mikage stutters.

"It'll be alright!" I wink.

She looks relieved. I hope she won't worry about me. I hate it when people are concerned.

"So where is he?" I ask.

"We don't quite know." Mikage mumbles.

"Well what do you know?" I ask.

"We know that he's around you and that he's driving a prison truck. And he has a hostage."

"Who's the hostage?"

"We don't know."

"What does the hostage look like?"

"A young albino woman with spikey hair."

"Alright. She won't be hard to miss. Anything else?"

"No."

"Alright."

I motion to shut it off.

"Kaz?"

"Yeah Sagiri-San?"

"Don't die."

She's so concerned. She's always so worried. Even about me. It's cute. Right time to go.

"Psst, I'll be alright."

"Okay."

I shut the console off and begin to drive. You know it isn't supposed to rain today. That's what makes this strange. After all it isn't raining anywhere but around here. Oh no this isn't more magic is it? It's always magic in this city. Unnamed and unfaced villains with abilities beyond the norm. And now that Yuusei's gone—I can't think about it like that. It's depressing. Alright let me check in with Ushio.

"Ushio hey." I smile.

"What do you want?" He grumbles.

"Have you heard about—"

"Divine yep but I have bigger problems to deal with."

"Like?"

"Some kid is threatening to blow up the part of the city unless the hostage is released. Some really weird shit's going down."

"Well then I'm glad I'm chasing after the sociopathic psychic and not where you are."

"Yeah, yeah. Kazama make sure whoever's in the car get's out alive. If there are any doubts the whole place is going boom."

"Alright."

Well now the fate of the city rests in my hands. This isn't quite as refreshing as I had hoped. Who's in that truck anyway? Ushio called it a car, hah. Focus. That person must be important if the city's in danger. It's probably someone with magic. It's always magic. The console buzzes again.

"We have a problem Kaz." Mikage tears up.

"What?" I ask.

"Divine stopped."

I speed up and am forced to slow down by the wreckage of a white car and a prison truck in front of me.

"I think I know why. I have to go Mikage."

I stop and step out of my car. Police cars were recently ordered to prevent more dueling related deaths. Funny as all we got were traffic related deaths because we could no longer force our opponents to a slow speed. They'd just go so fast they'd kill themselves and innocents around them.

"Ah. Some of it's from his sinuses and the other is from his stomach. This is bad. There is nothing you can—"

I grab my phone and dial 119.

"Yes hello someone has been in an accident downtown on the highway. I don't know which I wasn't paying attention but you can't miss it." I inform them setting it down on the seat so they can trace it.

"Anyone called 119?" A gruff voice calls.

"I have." I reply.

A tall man with dark skin and black hair runs over.

"Hey aren't you security?" He asks.

"I am. My name is Kazama and I'm here for the man in the truck. He's an escapee from prison." I explain.

"This guy's a criminal?" He pursues.

"Yes." I explain again.

"Dragan make sure Brave isn't going unconscious." A man in the car commands.

"Alright." The other one states.

He walks over to check. What's going on here? The rain stopped. Stranger and stranger. Alright. Let's go through this. One Jack Atlus dies, two Yuusei dies, three Divine escapes, four he grabs a hostage, five, some kid wants or needs the hostage and threatens to blow up part of the city, six magic is somehow involved. Magic's always involved. Think, think, think. I've got it! Yuusei mentioned that he defeated a man with the help of the legendary Mutou Yuugi and Yuuki Judai. Time traveled must have been involved for that to happen. This happened just before he rescued Kyosuke Kiryu. So someone's screwing with the timeline. It is freaking magic! Knew it. So then the hostage in the truck is so important that someone threatened to explode the city. The hostage must be one of the causes for the time issues. So a time traveler killed two people that are important to the future and caused a chain reaction that will kill many more unless I save the hostage! Time to be a hero! At last!

The console buzzes again. Mikage looks frazzled and is tearing up again.

"K-Kaz, he did it." She hoarsely chokes. "He did it. He heard about the crash. He did it. All the emergency services have been diverted there. Do crowd control. I don't care if Divine leaves the country! Just don't let anyone die! I don't think I could handle that!"

"Everything will be alright. I promise." I reply.

It's a lie. I'm terrified and I don't think I can do this. But I will try my hardest because this time I'm the hero!

I turn to the wreckage and the three men.

"An explosion happened in the city! I'm sorry but most of the emergency services were diverted there." I explain.

"So the ambulance won't get here?" The dark man snarls.

"I'm afraid not. I could take him in my car but you'd have to be with him and so would your friend because I don't have anybody with me with medical knowledge." I panic.

"It's no problem!" He shouts in return.

"Uh okay, I'll help you pull them out." I cry.

"Do not move Brave too fast." The light man calls.

I pull at the young man frantically and he breaks free with a larger hole. He coughs up more blood and it dribbles down onto the ground.

"What did you do?" The light man sobs.

"We made the hole bigger!" The dark one whimpers.

"You fools. Quickly get him to the hospital." The light one shrieks.

"The nearest is a good half hour away, probably longer with the traffic influx." I explain.

"Pick one off the traffic routes!" The lighter man screeches.

"That one's an hour away!"

"Then speed!"

The darker man bends the metal so he can free his friend. They seem quite close. Like Yuusei always was with everyone.

"This is a feat even for you." The lighter one chuckles.

"Not now Harald." The darker one grumbles.

I run into the car. Divine speeds past on foot. Should I? But Mikage said... and what Mikage says gos! After all if I don't do this then this man will die and that is, that is, unacceptable!

"Dragan are you okay?" The lighter one asks.

"Yeah Harald. I feel like I'm going to puke but I'm perfectly fine." Dragan replies.

"I am glad." Harald whines.

He looks tired and begins to fade in and out of consciousness.

"Dragan I am tired. No I am not dying. I am only tired. Please wake me up if something happens." Harald whimpers.

"I will alright? You deserve a nap. You only have bruises and the broken rib so you should be fine." Dragan murmurs.

"Are you sure you are alright?"

"Yes."

"Please always be alright."

The man passes out.

"So Kazama was it? Go off road." Dragan demands.

"This isn't an off roa-" I reply.

"Don't sass me! Do it! Please!"

With a frown I spin the wheel of the car and swerve it off road.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?" I scream over the sound of burning pavement.

"YEEEEEEESSSSS!" He screams even louder.

He has a pair of lungs on him. He this is much faster. I can see the hospital in the distant. I speed up as fast as I can accelerate on this car. Thank you Director Yeager for spending more of the budget on faster cars.

I let Divine go. One of the most dangerous men in the world ran past me and I did nothing. I did it to save the life of an innocent! How many more lives have I endangered by letting him go? A hero would do this! Yes, yes a hero would do this and I am a hero, just for this time, just for this moment. I don't know how many lives I have doomed but I do know that this life I can save! This person I and I alone can save! And I never would have forgiven myself if I had not! I spin to the side and break just before I hit the hospital. Dragan throws open the door and carries the still heavily bleeding red head to the building. I open the door and carry Harald inside.

It smells like death and gunpowder. It smells like bacon in here. The lights burn my eyes. People, there are so many people with so many burns. Burning people smell like bacon. Burning people smell like bacon. Burning people smell like bacon. I'm gonna be sick. I put down the silver haired man and vomit on the ground. A nurse looks disgusted and sighs. She takes Harald into a room and leaves me and Dragan standing here. He looks like he already vomited.

"Are you alright?" I ask.

"Yeah just worried is all. Don't worry about me. Don't worry." Dragan frowns.

I pull out a packet of cigarettes.

"You smoke?" I ask him.

"No." He replies.

"Funny, neither did I." I reply.

Everything will be alright, at least for this moment. Alright?


	6. Dragan

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **I'm so fucking sorry Sango... No I'm not. Also headcanon, Dragan swears like all the time when not in duels. He doesn't swear during duels because priiiiiiiiiiddddddeeeeeee.

Meltdown

He's been smoking for a good four hours now. Not sure I'd be able to stomach the same.

"Should you really be smoking in here?" I ask him.

"Eh? No. I'm calming my nerves." He banters back.

"Liar. You're just addicted." I reply.

"Do you always assume the worst of someone?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because it's always true."

"You are a very cynical man."

"And you are smoking in a hospital. Who does that anyway?"

"Plenty of people. Where are you from Dragan?"

"Norway."

"Eh? Norway? Somewhere in Europe, right?"

"Right."

"That's interesting."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean it's something new."

"Stop trying to make small talk."

"I'm talking so I the situation doesn't hit and you smell something other than this."

"Like what?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

He sighs and puts the smoke out on his jacket. He seems more worried than me. He's not the one with two friends on death row. Then again whoever was in that prison van wasn't picked up so—who exactly was in there? Knowing our luck it's probably a fucking serial killer, it's probably a fucking magical serial killer with a magic knife. Bloody shit. I sniff around. Has someone been cooking?

"No that's the people."

"What?"

"The smell. Burning people smell like bacon."

The blue haired man bursts into tears and collapses on the ground in a pool of blood and vomit and God only knows what else.

"Burning people smell like bacon." He repeats.

The smell doesn't really bother me. After all I only care about Brave and Harald right now. I don't know these people. I haven't connected with them. Sure it's sad but there's nothing I can do and no loss will be sustained. I really am cynical.

"Shut the fuck up Kazama. You've gone this far without breaking down, so don't stop now, got it?" I scream surprising even myself.

"Yes, you're right. I'm sorry." He stands up and lights another.

Fucker shouldn't smoke in the frigging hospital!

"Go to the bathroom and clean the puke of yourself." I snarl.

He runs off to do such. How much longer until I get news? It's unbearable not fucking knowing if their dead or not. God if either of them die I'm bloody well storming wherever souls are kept and bringing their souls back. And then I'm gonna get drunk. Cause there's no party without beer. And if I bring back my two best friends from wherever souls are kept I better have a motherfucking party.

"Sir?" A nurse asks.

"Yes?" I ask in return.

"One of your friends has completely recovered. It's a miracle. We thought we'd lose him. The other is however in critical condition."

"Who's in critical condition?"

"Akio get back in here! We have a problem!" A doctor calls.

"Yes ma'am!" The nurse calls back as he runs over to the doctor.

Well at least one of them's alright. Harald's probably fine. He's more durable then he seems. He isn't one to die so easily. Brave on the other hand, well he has his mild healing factor so he'll be alright. Fucking nurse left before fucking telling me fucking asshole. Neither of them are allowed to frigging die. Too much frigging effort. Too annoying. Don't wanna deal with that shit. Just want to go home and live a happy life! Why is life so hard for heroes? Eh? Wouldn't more people become heroes if they had a good life? Why do people we care about always have to get hurt? It's not even fair. Heroes always fucking die at the end. And even if they don't what will they do? Where will they go? After the job is done what else is there to live for? We got lucky, we aren't even real heroes. We're fucking runner ups and yet we still get hurt like this. Fuckers that decided this better show their sorry faces cause I'm going to duel them to death. Frigging death.

Kazama comes out of the bathroom and finally doesn't have the smoke. Shouldn't smoke in the frigging hospital. Like at all. Shouldn't do that. Second hand smoke's bad. Not my fault he's destroying his frigging lungs. There are probably fucking kids here. Whatever. I hate kids. They run round and use me as a jungle gym and scream in my face and honestly they are just obnoxious fucks.

"Are you okay?" Kazama asks.

"Yeah, why?" I ask in return.

"Because you look like you're going to be sick."

"Shut up."

"So you aren't alright? Good to know."

"You don't know anything."

"You think so?"

"Shut up."

"Are you okay?"

"My head hurts alright. You're fucking smoking gives me migraines."

"Migraines eh? Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm worried alright?"

"Ah."

He finally shuts up. The nurse, Akio, comes back out with a frown and terrified eyes. I run up and pick him up by the collar.

"What?" I growl.

"Y-You c-c-can go in now." He stutters.

I drop the man and walk in to see Brave peacefully sleeping. He even has a little smile. So that means that—no no no no no no no no no no. It's not fair. I run out and grab the small man again.

"Where the hell is Harald?" I snarl.

"H-he's i-in th-there!" The man shrieks.

I drop him and run into the room he was pointing too. A large machine is hooked up to Harald. Critical condition. Just how critical? A doctor is standing by with a frown on his face.

"What happened?" I ask.

"He died during surgery. We brought him back but too late. I'm sorry."

"No, no you aren't sorry. Because people don't get fucking sorry when some nameless man dies in a fucking hospital! After all people are burning, people are dying in the city! And one death isn't even important right now!"

"He's not dead he's—"

"Worse. Is there a change he'll ever somehow recover?"

"No, not without another miracle. Not without magic."

Miracles, no, no I can't do miracles. But magic, magic I can do. My head hurts I think I'm gonna pass out. I stumbles over to Harald.

"I wish I had the power to save you but I don't so I'm going to ask someone else to help you. Maybe Brave could share his healing factor."

Wait... I have my fucking deck. I'll be fucking saving you now Harald. I take out the cards and my vision blurs. Why's it blurring? Why can't I see? Why? Oh no no no no no no no! I smashed my brain against my stronger skull. I'm lucky I didn't die on impact. I'm so fucking lucky. I pick up the card that Brave gave me to hold onto. Golden Apples. Let's hope this works.

"I use the spell card Golden Apples!" I cry.

Before I can even see if the spell works my vision completely blanks. I climb onto the bed and lay my head on Harald's chest. He's breathing but that's nothing special. I take off the mask on his face with a flail. He's still breathing. Thank you. Thank whoever made this work for fucking saving Harald. My cards spill on the ground. I wonder who will be chosen in my stead. I hope it's someone Harald would like. I wouldn't want him to miss me. It's be a fucking horrible thing if he missed me. My head hurts. I reach up even further and nuzzle his neck. He's pretty warm for someone that nearly died. Someone's shaking me.

"What the hell do you want?" I ask.

"Dragan what are you doing?" Brave asks back.

"Shh, it doesn't matter. Take care of Harald."

"What why?"

"Shut the fuck up Brave. You better fucking marry Hogan."

My head hurts. I think it's okay though. Goodnight Harald.


	7. Filler

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **I don't think people like AUs that aren't high school or vampire or pet ones. I think that turns a lot of people away from my stories. So thank you everyone that reads these because I honestly put my heart and sweat into them. You guys are fucking awesome. Now back to your regularly scheduled

Meltdown

Do they honestly think they can contain me here for long? They are only an annoyance. I can escape anytime I want. Look at them so smug towards me, like I'm the moron. I was arrested simply because I made an error. I did not factor Carly Nagasaki and Misty Lola into the equation. This time I have accounted for all major players; Jack Atlus, Crow Hogan, Bruno Borrelli, Kiryu Kyosuke, Mikage Sagiri, Tetsu Ushio, Sherry LeBlanc, Carly Nagasaki, those twins and of course Yuusei Fudo and Aki Iyazoi. Well more like Yuusei Fudo's and Jack Atlus's memories. They will never fade from public eye. They are legends now. Yes this time I have accounted for all major players. There will be no sudden death. There will be no sudden strength. There will be absolutely no messiah! Not this time! Look at me getting so angry over such a mild annoyance. Silly little me. Time for planning. I will need a hostage. Not for the plan itself but the drama. Security will be much less likely to pursue me if I have a hostage. Preferably an attractive young Asian or Caucasian woman with a distinctive appearance.

I have currently been let outside the building, not outside the prison but the building. They think that it's inhumane to prevent prisoners from seeing the sunlight. Fools. What has Yuusei Fudo done to this town? His memory has changed this world so much. I miss my utopia. A young albino woman in very strange dress walks towards me an lifts me up by the collar.

"Can I help you?" I ask her.

"Do you have any means of going back in time?" She yells.

I stare at her for a total of forty seconds before drawing a card.

"I'm sorry for this." I smile. "I activate Psychic Sword."

I am a bit of a drama queen. Sorry. It can't be helped. A large glowing sword is in my hand. I swing my foot upwards and kick the woman in the groin. She howls in pain and I wrap my arm around her chest. I press the sword against her throat. Security rushes out with guns pointed.

"Tsk, tsk, you wouldn't want the young lady to die would you?" I ask with a smirk.

"Lady? Young?" The woman splutters.

"Hush up darling." I laugh. "It'll be just fine."

"Darling? Do you know who I am?" The woman screams.

"No and I don't care. Next I use Meteor of Destruction!" I laugh as the flaming rock slams against the gate and opens my path to freedom.

"Listen I have another ten spell cards here, all of which can cause damage to you and perhaps the entire city. Give me the keys to one of those shiny vans and I will release the hostage and won't kill everyone." I smile.

They debate it.

"Hurry it up or I'll use a monster, an Arcana force." I smile even wider.

Their eyes go wide. I bet they are wondering where I got the Arcana from. Don't have one. I only have the sword, the meteor, Serene Psychic Witch and Overmind Archfiend. If push comes to shove I'll summon the great beast but that would cause so much collateral damage, besides she's rather hard to control. Maybe I'll call her Witch, she's very reminiscent of the former thorn.

Security debates it and a member throws me the keys. I walk slowly back still clutching the hostage. She growls and bites my wrist. I press the blade against her throat causing her to bleed. She releases with a groan.

"Let me go you fool! You have no idea who you're messing with!" She screeches.

"Let me guess, the daughter of a senator? A psychic? Maybe even, a, a member of security! Don't make me laugh! I have dealt with much worse than you child."

I back up and drag the screaming and flailing woman over to the van. I open it up and throw her in. I hop in myself and summon Serene Psychic Witch. She's relatively easy to deal with and please.

"SPW please make sure the hostage doesn't do anything stupid." I order the monster.

She nods and hovers over to the woman.

"You have no fucking idea what you are playing at shit head! I am one of the three pure nobles! I am a member of Yllaister! You are so fucking dead! Lucciano could kill you!"

"I have absolutely no idea what any of that means."

"W-what?"

"I honestly have no idea what you are talking about madam. All I know is that you are very aggressive. Perhaps you should take anger management classes."

"Fuck you!"

"No thank you."

"Asshole."

"Are you trying to make some kind of point?"

"God damn it you're like that fucking human android fuck you."

"Human android?"

My mind goes straight to Magical Android. Could this woman be a psychic monster I have not yet seen? Oh then she was right, I did have no idea whom I was messing with.

There is silence for a moment. I glance ahead of me. When did it start raining so heavily? It's getting rather hard to see. The young woman reaches forwards and tilts the steering wheel sharply to the left. In a state of shock I scream for help.

"Overmind Archfiend!" I hiss.

The fiend is outside the van thankfully but she has no regard for me and shoves up aside, onto the other road, into oncoming traffic. I try and get the van back on track but the woman shoves me and climbs onto the seat with me.

"We're doing this my way!" She screams as she pushes down on the gas.

"Are you insane?" I shriek.

I take the steering wheel back and frantically try to get off the road. The rain clears for a second and a white car plows straight into the van. I climb out of the now burning and broken wreckage, leaving the strange and inhuman woman behind. I can see her, she has a severe head injury that's leaking, well I don't know what it's leaking. She's clearly something beyond anything I have ever seen. Sad, I hope in another life I could have studied her more closely. I try to collect my cards through the wreckage. After all if I can't find the card then Overmind Archfiend might be stuck on this world. Imagine that a being of incredible power that has the mentality of a teenage girl and no strong leader figure such as myself to make sure she obeys. SPW clearly also has issues with authority as she blatantly disobeyed me. I suppose I might as well bring it up until I can sort out this mess.

"SPW you were supposed to prevent this kind of think from happening."

"But sir you said prevent her from doing anything stupid, it was planned and clearly thought out and she decided to take the risks." SPW replies.

"Do you always obey commands so literally?"

"Yes."

"Good to know. Help me find these cards please without showing yourself too much to the people outside and without using any magic or blowing anything up."

"Yes sir."

She gets on her hands and knees and starts digging through the rubble with me. She is also like Aki. The Aki I knew and loved, before she chased off after the Fallen Star. If I could get SPW to obey then she would be a fine second in command. I wish I had thought of this before but the Serene Psychic Witch I had didn't have the same spark. Actually none of the cards that were in possession had a spark after that moment. What gives cards their spark? What takes the spark away? I go into the back and pick up the woman. I pitch her on the side of the road and grab the cards from underneath her.

"Found them. SPW I'm putting you away for now."

She looks at me sadly and vanishes, filling the card with life and spark again. What gives things spark? What takes them away? Look at all this chaos. What a terrible day for rain. I run off past the security member and onwards to freedom. I wonder what awaits me next.

**Additional Note: **This is only partially filler, you see SPW actually has a plot purpose and I have this way of deciding who's chapter goes next. So it's Placido's chapter next. Thanks for reading. And yup this is only half Divine's story so you have to be patient for the next part to his because it comes much later. Basically think of this as many short stories connected to one. We have the first story with a resolution, Team Ragnarok's and Crow's and we are now on Antinomy's, Lucciano's and Placido's. We have started Kiryu's and Bruno's and are working towards Divine's, Aki's and Carly's. We are also partially done with Mikage's, Kazama's and Ushio's and Yuusei's and we have Sherry's last as well as a bonus chapter that deals with the aftermath of the stories. You can thank me for the exposition later.


	8. Placido

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **I am sorry. Please don't have an angst

Meltdown

"You have no fucking idea what you are playing at shit head! I am one of the three pure nobles! I am a member of Yllaister! You are so fucking dead! Lucciano could kill you!" I scream at the moron at the wheel.

Jose is going to kill me. All I was supposed to do was find my sword and the other person with a time machine. It's their fault we never appeared for the WRPG. It's their fault that Fudou Yuusei is dead and I didn't kill him. Bastards. All these foolish humans that thing that they can pick up anything and use it to their advantage.

"Means." Is all I catch from the psychic humanoid.

"What?" I snarl.

I hate it when I don't hear things.

"I honestly have no idea what you are talking about madam. All I know is that you are very aggressive. Perhaps you should take anger management classes." He repeats himself with a fucking smug look that I'll wipe off his face with my teeth.

Madam? Anger management? Son of a human whore!

"Fuck you!"

"No thank you."

"Asshole!"

"Are you trying to make some kind of point?"

"God damn it you're like that fucking human android fuck you."

Antinomy bickers at me like this. I hate all these humans! Are they all so annoying? God this guy makes Antinomy seem freaking polite.

"Human android?"

He has no idea what any of this means. Stupid fucker. I need to get out of here before Lucciano comes and gets me and imagine how that would look. Imagine that. Fucker. Right so I guess I could grab the steering wheel and turn it and then climb out of the car after it crashes. I could really hurt myself though. Whatever. Better than dealing with Lucciano's shit.

I lunge forward and tear the steering wheel from his hands and turn it left. He lets out a very long shriek and hisses.

"Overmind Archfiend!" He whines.

A large beast with strange colouring appears outside the van and floats off. Well that really did a lot. This guy is freaking stupid. In his shock I shove into the seat and press my foot down on the gas.

"We're doing this my way!" I laugh as I press down harder.

He stares at me with complete fear and shrieks.

"Are you insane?"

No. No. Insanity is something I gave up a long time ago. He grabs onto the steering wheel himself and tries to steer us back on track. A large white car appears as the rain pelts heavily down. I laugh as the human in the car's eyes grow and wait is his eye- Crash.

I wake up a few minutes later with rubble covering my face. I, I can't move. This is just great. Now Lucciano will come and have to get me and then I'll never hear the end of it. This wasn't the greatest plan but the psychic drove me to it! It's not my fault. I feel ill. Am I, am I bl-bleeding? What is going on? Ow, my head hurts. Everything hurts. Why am I in pain? And-androids don't feel pain. I'm not supposed to feel pain. Am I? I don't like pain. _It hurts all over again. Like it did back when I was human. Am I dying? No, no, I'm not. What's going on? Wha, what's going o_

I wake up with a young man with deep blue hair, the spitting image of Antinomy, and a white haired pretty boy standing over me.

"We don't have time to pick up every stranger in danger Bruno. We have to go to trial soon." The white haired one complains.

"You are so cold hearted Kiryu. How do you sleep at night?" Bruno asks, seems like he has some of the behavioral traits of Antinomy as well.

"Like a baby." Kiryu snaps back.

"We shouldn't be arguing. Yuusei would be ashamed." Bruno says with heavy lids.

"Don't talk about Yuusei like you love him." Kiryu mutters.

"But I do, probably more than you." Bruno whimpers.

This is so annoying.

"Just shut up. Don't you have a random stranger to be helping?"

"You act so cold Kiryu. Funny as I seem to recall how you help strangers as well. She could be dying."

"She? Looks like a he to me, despite the boots."

"I thought women were supposed to be delicate and helpless and men were supposed to be strong and brave. He looks very delicate and he is helpless."

"Who told you that?"

"The stories on television and in books."

"Are you seven?"

"No."

Bruno reaches out to grab me and I finally open my mouth and let out a long and high pitched shriek.

"Don't touch me!" I shriek.

"Oh. Maybe she is a woman. Excuse me are you a woman?" Kiryu asks.

"No!" I snarl as I try to stand.

I promptly fall back down onto the ground with a thud. I mutter a few more profanities under my breath before the white haired one gets the nerve to pick me up.

"See he isn't screaming about me holding him?" Kiryu hums.

"But I'm gentler than you. I don't know why he wouldn't want me to hold him. Maybe he's scared because I'm a man." Bruno ponders out loud like the stupid fuck he is.

"I'm a man!" Kiryu screams.

"But you are very delicate like he is."

"You are a piece of work you know that?"

"I don't know what that means. We shouldn't be fighting. Fighting is wrong."

Kiryu sighs and takes me away. Bruno looks exactly like Antinomy. What kind of shit is up? This is ridiculous. Could there be two of him? That's just great. Two human androids giving me pain.

"Put me down." I growl.

Neither of them listen.

"No, you need help." Bruno whimpers.

"Your head was bleeding and you can hardly stand." Kiryu mentions.

Bleeding? I'm not supposed to bleed. Bleeding is human. Leaking is a better term. Yes leaky because I'm faulty. I really out to see Jose about that. I think the crash messed with my wiring because I feel... weird. I feel kind of icky. I think I'm gonna pass out again. What happened to my wiring? _I feel sad when I look at the_ _Bruno._

And I'm awake. Where am I now? Is this, is this Yuusei's old house? Oh what's that smell? Is that food? I'm hungry? Why am I hungry! I thought they removed that part through my... wiring. Great. So I'm hungry but I can't eat.

"Oh by the way you look hungry so we decided to feed you." Kiryu mentions like I care.

Bruno is rubbing his hands over my boots. Wait...

"Stop that." I groan.

"I wanted to see what they were made of." He squeaks before throwing himself to the ground.

How could this thing be anywhere near Antinomy? He's pathetic. Even the human is more respectable.

"Get up weakling." I growl.

He stands up with a very distraught face.

"Your eyes are dead." I comment.

He looks like he's going to cry.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"N-nothing." He sniffles.

"Are you fucking crying?" I ask.

"He is." Kiryu remarks.

"Get over yourself!" I sneer. "There is no point in crying it won't change anything! Sadness is pointless!"

That only makes him burst into long sobs curled up on the floor. Kiryu stops cooking and looks at me.

"Sadness is pointless. Anger is as well. All feelings are. They just get people hurt." He frowns before continuing what he was doing.

Even the human knows how pointless feelings are. Where on Earth is Antinomy? Damn I need him to get me and solve this problem. I need anyone to get me. Even Lucciano would be alright at this point.

He's still sobbing. Sadness is pointless. Despair is pointless. _It's better to be angry than to be sad. If you're angry than you can't get attached and you can't get hurt. I won't be hurt ever again._

"Get up! Don't be so weak! Stop being weak! You're like me! So you shouldn't be weak!" I scream as I stand up wobbling and crash down on the sobbing android.

Androids shouldn't behave in this way. Even Antinomy wasn't this human. Then again perhaps that was only through is loyalty towards Z-ONE.

"Get up! Get up! Be strong! Antinomy's stronger than you! That's how pathetic you are! Androids shouldn't be this disgusting!" I sneer.

I hear a loud clash as several dishes are dropped.

"That is enough! How dare you do this to someone that was brave enough and kind enough to help you! What is this nonsense about Antinomy and androids anyway? Are you insane?" Kiryu screams as me as he picks me up by the shirt.

"I am an android. A superior being to humans such as yourself. He is probably an android as well because he looks exactly like my former team mate Antinomy. I also believe that someone is messing with time. Now put me down so I can find a way to contact either Antinomy or Lucciano so they can come and get me." I explain.

"Androids? Why are you here?"

"That is none of your business."

"Tell me why you're here."

"I am here under the orders of Z-ONE to find who is messing with time and change it so that Fudou Yuusei doesn't die before the mission can be completed."

"Yuusei?"

The human's eyes grow wide and fill with slight tears.

"And by that means prevent the death of Jack Atlus."

"J-Jack too?"

He begins to softly cry. The sounds are mixed in with, with the still sobbing android's ragged tears.

"Put me down." I order.

He drops me. I attempt to stand and fall down once more. My head hurts again. _I shouldn't be hurting like this. I hurt every time the android sobs. The Bruno looks like Antinomy. Antinomy. Where is he anyway? I think, I think I may have killed him. Oh._

I stand up this time and manage to take steps towards the android. I grab him and back hand him.

"How dare you look just like him. How dare you make me feel. How dare you be so damned pathetic." I grow slapping him with every sentence.

_It's not my fault. It's not my fault. He deserved it. He was getting in the way. Why does this being looks so much like him? It's not fair. I hate him. I hate everyone. I'm not in despair._

"I'm, I'm sorry." Bruno cries.

He wraps his arms around me and sobs into my neck. I slap him off and he cries again.

"Stop being so human around me! It's so fucking stupid! Are you punishing me? Were you built by Z-ONE to punish me? Is that it? TELL ME!"

Kiryu has remained silent this time. Good.

"Z-ONE? Z-ONE. I, I, I, I"

The android's having a breakdown now. This is so stupid. I can not believe that he was built by the same man as me.

"Placido. Placido I am Antinomy." The android murmurs. "I'm Antinomy and I forgive you."

Forgive me? Forgive ME! He's the one that _pushed me to it and he's lying to me. He doesn't forgive me he wants to make me feel so he can hurt me._

"Let go of me!" I shriek.

"Shh, I love you and I forgive you. Calm down. I love you, alright?"

"Liar! Liar! Liar! Liar! Liar! You tell lies! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut-"

He presses his lips against mine. I punch him away and stand up again. Kiryu stares directly at me with a blank expression.

"You really ought to go now." He mutters.

"I will!" I snap.

I stumble outside. The liar trails after me.

"Placido, don't go. I really do forgive you. Whatever made you kill me I'm sorry." He lies.

I stumble out and smash my forehead against the ground. I shouldn't have tried to walk again.

"Placido you're going to hurt yourself."

Androids don't get hurt and even if they do they are replacable. I am replaceable. I can be replaced. _I want to cry. I wish I could cry. It would probably make me feel a lot better. I just want everyone to stop lying to me. Why can't they do that? Why? _I begin to pass out again with the android's arms wrapped around me.

"Liar." I cough out.

"Sh, go to sleep." He whimpers.

"Why do you hate me?"

"I don't hate you. I could never hate you. Placido why do you assume I'd hate you?"

"Because you are like a human and humans hate everything they don't understand."

"You are wrong."

"Liar. You tell li-

**Additional Note: **I'm sick so I probably won't update in the next two days. Sorry.


	9. Antinomy

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or nay of its characters.

**Author Note: **Did ya miss me? Also sanity is no longer bigger than a breadbox, it is a mineral and it is the colour between red and blue. Now today I bring you another

Meltdown

"Liar! You tell li-" My fellow android screams as he fades out of consciousness.

You poor thing. You can not comprehend feelings and emotions. You can not comprehend the fact that I love you so much. So stupid. So unfair. So unfair that you had to have a small and bitter heart. Couldn't Z-ONE at least have let you feel something? It wouldn't have hurt anyone. Except maybe... maybe your heart is your own. Yes, yes it must be. And now I'm even more sorry. Because of your own bitterness and stupidity you can not experience things that would prevent these malfunctions, that would have us work together better than anyone ever could. So stupid. Just like the humans you hate so much. Isn't that ironic? Isn't it Placido? Well you probably wouldn't understand irony. I'm sorry you can't accept that I love and forgive you. Maybe one day you will. You poor thing. _You wouldn't even know if I left you to rot here right now without another though to put you out of your misery. It's sickening watching you panic and flee from the slightest hint of pleasure._

I pick up the malfunctioning android and carry him back to the house. Kiryu is still freaking out on the side. How did I lose Fudo Yuusei to him? He's in just as deep a despair as my comrades were, before, before, they aren't around anymore. It doesn't matter though. I set Placido down on the sofa as before and glare at the silently screaming young human as he mutters things I can't be bothered to hear. My other self, I suppose he's gone. Sad. He was a good person. Isn't that hilarious? The person that was kind enough to own this body has gone and the kicker is that he isn't, and never was, even real. All the mistake of my malfunctioning mind. My mind is still malfunctioning though. I think I'm breaking free of my programming, growing beyond it. I can not allow that. I have to find the other Pure Nobles. Maybe they still have contact with Z-ONE. Maybe.

"Antinomy." Placido says as he awakens.

"Yes." I reply with a happy tone, as to make sure he doesn't panic.

"Come next to me." He whimpers.

I see. He must be feeling better.

"Alright." I smile.

I walk over to him and he smiles as well. This is slightly strange. Has he hurt himself? Am I dreaming?

"Come down to my level." He mutters, sitting up.

I bend down and he wraps his hands around my throat. I let out a small squeak. Placido growls and shows me down against the ground.

"Tell me why you're lying to me." He sneers with each letter be enforced by the smack of my head against the ground.

Kiryu stares at the scene with monotone eyes, all emotion has vanished. Look at him. In such a human body. He can only show me apathy. Can't he? Can't he? Humans want to be freed of negative emotions! Androids want to be freed of positive emotions! Robots just want to feel! Ah the irony! The sheer comedy!

"Answer me!" He screams as he smashes my head into the ground.

"I'm not." I reply with a softer face.

I can't let him see me freaking out. It would have him think that emotions are pointless.

"Liar!" He shouts as he smashes me against the floor with all the strength his waifish but enhanced body can muster.

Too think someone, no thing in all honestly, so small can muster so much strength is beyond me. Probably it's enhancements. What am I thinking? Placido is not an it. He's not a thing. He is not the leech of a former man. _I want to be a real human again. I don't want to have the burning desire to tear of my artificial skin, to shove everyone my inner mechanics, to show them how very fake I am. And maybe to convince Placido that it's better to be the copy of a human that does not exist than to be the copy of one that did. To not be lied to that he is a human in a state of inhumanity that can't be helped. To have feelings that aren't someone else's. If he can't then, I might as well just put us both out of our misery._

My head feels wet. He's caused me to leak.

"Placido, I love you very much and so I can not hate you. Do you understand?" I say it very slowly, as if talking to a child.

That's what he is after all. A child. He hasn't been alive very much and the age he was built to look like is very difficult to handle and fragile of mind. Yes he is little more than a child. That's alright. Because I have grown really fond and really attached to him. _Children can learn. They can be changed. He is so very delicate that I could break him and show him that no matter how much he screams and laughs that he is very much a human. That no matter how many times he sneers that he is better that he is worse than any human could ever be and he doesn't even deserve to be in their presence but humans are so good that they would tolerate and care for him better than any of his fellow fakes in artificial reality could. _

"I don't, I don't understand! Why! Why do you feel this way!" Placido screams as he uses all his force to batter me against the ground.

Why? Why? Is there usually a reason why? Is there a reason for feeling? Why? Why? So stupid. There is no why. There is no how. There only is. Maybe I'm just lonely. Maybe because he's the only one that's ever shown an interest than me. _Maybe I love being battered and abused and told how worthless I am because I know I deserve it and it's true and so I became affectionate towards the one being that would hate me so much and hurt me so much as he sobbed and he tried to understand that I could feel and that I don't hate him and maybe it's because I love to hurt and to be hurt and to be needed and irreplaceable just for once in this agonizing half existence that God cursed me with because I dared breathe longer than I was allowed to. _If there is a reason why then it must be a very strange reason.

"I don't know why I feel this way Placido. Feelings usually don't make much sense. The reason might be that I enjoy your company because you have many interesting things to say and that I find you aesthetically pleasing." I reason.

"Is that all? The basic human desire to reproduce? Antinomy. Antinomy you know we don't do that right?" Placido screeches as he tries to pretend that's what I meant.

"You know that's not what I mean. I think you are a person who I enjoy spending time with and you and I could be very close."

"Why? Why? Why!" He panics, once again beating me against the ground. "why? Why? Why! I hate you! I hate you! I could never love anyone as disgusting as you! I could never love anyone! I don't have feelings Antinomy! I can't be pleasant company Antinomy! My purpose is to defeat Fudo Yuusei Antinomy! I have no other reason for existence Antinomy! So shut up! So shut up! You can't love a damn object! You can not love a THING! Why are you trying to make me think that you can and that I can love a human? Rocks don't have feelings! I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I d-d-d-d-d-d-d-"

By now tears have begun making their way down his cheeks. They turn bright red from the shame of it all. _Look at the sheer misery of it all. I'm causing him so much pain and he hasn't even caused any back this time. I want more of this fire. I want him to burn me up. I want to feel so much pain that the memory of the man that I was will be completely erased._

"Placido you're glitching. You need to calm down!" I beg.

"Let him. If he wasn't meant for feelings then you can't force them on him." Kiryu interrupts.

"But I know he can!" I protest.

Kiryu sighs. Placido limply releases himself from my body and curls up on a heap on the floor. _If the fire won't return then it's best that I put him out of his misery._

"Androids can't feel." He mutters.

"Yes we can." I reply.

"How? How can we, a thing without a soul, feel a single thing at all?"

"Because God gave them to us."

"God? God? Z-ONE you mean? Z-ONE is no God."

"Get up and hit me. Let me feel the fire that's inside of you again. Embrace all emotions. Hate me, love me, like me, despise me, kiss me, kill me, embrace every emotion that you have with all your strength because you're wasting your soul on an impossible desire."

Placido says nothing. Kiryu stands up and walks out.

"Where do you think you're going?" I snap without meaning to towards him.

"Somewhere where there aren't crazy androids having freak outs on the floor." He snarks.

"Fine, good riddance." I mutter, returning my attention back to the silent android.

Placido is still sobbing and glitching even harder. I get down to his level and place a hand on his shoulder to turn him to face me.

"Placido look at me." I beg.

He writhes at my touch.

"Placido." I say much firmer, as if talking to a child.

He doesn't move so I turn him myself. I stare him directly in the eyes and he sobs. I lift him into my arms and hold him as tightly as I can. I kiss him. I kiss Placido. He doesn't even resist. I pull off.

"Androids don't feel. I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d" He glitches.

His bright red eyes are lined with tears. _I got what I wanted then, to hurt and be hurt. Too assure that I can still feel everything. What would I be if I lost feeling? Who would I be? Who am I? Does it matter? Does anything?_

"Placido I found you!" A nightmarish wail of a voice cries.

Lucciano. Good. He needs to see this.

"Placido has broken down." I mention.

"He's done what?" The boy asks.

"I confronted him with the reality of emotion and he broke down."

"No, no, no,no! We need him Antinomy! You're so stupid! Androids can't really feel! It's all in our programming! And you broke it! Stupid! This is your fault! If we can't restart time then it's all your damn fault!" He shrieks. "Placido. Placido you need to stop. Please."

He sits down by his other self and whimpers a bit.

"I liked Placido. He was a dumbass and useless and a stupid bully but he knew how important everything was. He knew that no matter what we couldn't stop to enjoy things. He always stopped me when I tried being a human. I should have been here to stop you. I'm a horrible other self." Lucciano mutters. "I guess it can't be helped now."

The young boy opens up a small panel on Placido's back and type's in a code. The bright red in his eyes fades to a dull and deeper shade.

"If you really loved him as you've always claimed then you would have left well enough alone." Lucciano sneers as he calls for Jose.

_I might as well put myself out of this misery as well. We shouldn't exist. We're just a parody of human nature dancing like fools. Placido has lost that fire that came with the arrogance of loneliness. I suppose that's what I wanted. To be burnt and broken and to cry and to feel ever emotion on my own. I felt hate. I felt shame. I felt guilt. So many things that aren't programmed. I'm human now. I'm human enough now right? Right? Right! So stupid. It's lies. Everything is a lie. All emotion. All pretense of freedom. I'm an android. Androids can't really feel. So why am I so sad? Because it's programmed? Placido. He was more than someone to try out theories of feelings on. He could have been more. So stupid. Thinking this is so stupid. I'm so stupid. It really is that kind of world though isn't it? A dirty lying world that just wants everyone dead! And I shouldn't care. Because, because, because, because, because, an-an-an-androids d-d-d-d-d-d-d-on't f-f-f-f-f-f-f-eel! I'll detach myself. And then, I won't feel anything. Ever again! It's true. If I detach myself then I won't feel any more guilt._

**Additional Note: **Okay, okay Lucciano's chapter comes next and that opens up another whole can of worms. It's basically from when Placido get's kidnapped to now. It also shows some more characterization of Placido through Lucciano's erratic behavior regarding him. Also you may have noticed that character's whose chapters are at the same time say the same line. That is intentional. Divine, Crow and Brave have all said it's a terrible day for rain. So Lucciano would have a line that matches up to one of Kazama's. Also characters whose stories are connected have the same theme. The Trickstar Tragedy had the theme of death. This one has humanity. The others will be revealed when they are complete or close to completion. So there you have it.


	10. Lucciano

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **Sorry for the absence. Blame Leon Kuwata and Combine. Also life. Anyway we return to your

Meltdown

Placido left earlier on today. Something about investigating the flawed timestream or some other stupid things. Jose left to investigate as well. So they leave me alone. And they tell me that I can't, old fools, I can do whatever I want. I'm not even a kid. I'm old, older than most people that aren't dead by now. We keep screwing up. People always die before they are supposed to. Last time it was Bruno Borelli, the time before that Crow Hogan, before that Akiza Iyazoi, before that I can't even remember. This time so many people are dead. They shouldn't be dead. Some of them shouldn't even have been here. They shouldn't have been anywhere near here. I think time is dying. I think the very being of it is coming apart at the seams because of how many times we've had to restart. Damn it. We were even late to the WRGP this time. Couldn't even enter. Couldn't go back in time at that point either. I could laugh. Time has croaked so much that it can't even bear my weight! Ahahahahahahahahah! No way it could bear anyone else's! Though time shouldn't be dying this quickly, it's as if it's dying at the twice the rate. Could someone else be- No that's impossible.

When's Placido coming hooooooome? I'm bored. I'm lonely. And I have some ideas I could share. I could tell him about my theories and then maybe we can finally not screw up. That'll be the day. We'll keep repeating, repeating, until the end of, ahahahahahahahah, time, hehe. It's hilarious! Isn't it? I think it is! That's the best part! Laughing! Laughing is the best part. Now Placido hasn't come home yet. I bet he got himself into trouble! Probably thought it was a good idea to punch someone out. Hehe. I don't care. He deserves everything he gets. That's a lie. I've got that wrong. He may be a dumbass but he's grown on me. Years with the same person will do that I suppose. Maybe that's why I keep thinking we could actually be friends. I'm lonely. Stupid feelings need to go away. I hate them. Why would Kami even give us feelings? They burn deep into my skin and they eat at my soul. Placido doesn't have any, any real ones. So why was I cursed? It's not fair. It's not fair but it's damn hilarious! Allow me to suffer like never before! For no reason! No reason at all! Isn't that truth?

He's getting really late now. What's happened? I open up a portal to where he said he was going. The center of Neo-Domino right? Placido wouldn't lie about something as important as this right? Yes that's right. He'd have to be something really, really, REALLY wrong to lie, right? Right. This is important. So it would be stupid to lie.

This is the first time I have been on a mission b myself. It's not that hard but Placido is such a diva he always has to take center stage. This time I will be useful and then Kami will give me more missions by myself. And then there will be no problems. Right? Right. And Placido isn't here. He lied. The man lied to me. He could be torn in half. He be trapped somewhere. He could be shut d- no, no he wouldn't let THAT happen. Not this time. This time I won't be the last one standing. I promise. So where is Placido then? Hey! Something funny, I remember earlier on he was ranting about some psychic. Ah Placido, good for you being unable to keep quiet! Dumbass! Exactly. So this psychic, this psychic can't be Akiza Iyazoi so it's gotta be, oh him. Well in hindsight this could have only ended terribly. And that's what makes it so funny! So hilarious! Right? Right! Ahahahahahahaha!

So now how will I get Placido? I know, I know. I'll make a threat. A threat to blow up the city. After all they do take bomb threats seriously right? Right. I wish Jose was here. He'd come up with a better plan but hey use what you have! Right? Right! And I just happen to have a bomb! That makes sense right? Right!

Some many people here ooh. I love peoples. They dance. They dance around a lot. It's kind of annoying. You'd think if they have 'advanced' so much humans would try and defy their set path more often, but they don't. Maybe they are just stupid. So really what's the point? What's the point in being so careful with their useless lives? We'll just reset again and again and again. As soon as I get Placido home. As soon. I promise. Right? Right.

I simply stroll into the middle of the road. Cars all around stop abruptly and people scream. This is the time to make myself heard.

"My name is Lucciano! I am one of the three Pure Nobles and I demand that Placido be returned alive and well or I'll blow you all sky high! Ahahahahahahaha! And then everyone goes bye, bye! Right? Right!"

Peoples' faces fall. Look at the misery, the corruption of humanity, it's disgusting. Humans are disgusting. Right? Placido would agree so it's right. He's pretty smart for a dumbass. Pretty smart. Right? Right.

Ooh look more dancers. Security I guess. That makes sense. Security tends to not want people to explode cities. Not like I'd do it. That could kill me! I could die! Still funny though. It amuses me. Maybe in the next cycle I'll get to help more. That be great. Right? Yeah. Right.

Wait don't I have a tracker? That'll help it! That'll help it! So where is Placido. He's moving. Oh. Oh he's really in trouble now. He could get smelted! Like during cycle 53 or shut down from brain trauma like during cycle 29. Stupid Placido. If you shut down then I might not be able to go back in time and then you'll stay that way, forever. Forever. Right? R-right. Let's do this then. No regrets. No accidents. I promise. I promise! Because watching him die isn't funny anymore. It's so boring. I spend the rest of the cycle with Jose and sometimes not even him. I spend so many cycles alone because he's too stupid. You know after this we probably only have another cycle or two. Two cycles to get it right. That hardly seems fair, right? It isn't. Life isn't fair though, I've lived enough to tell you that.

"The bomb is time release so if you arrest me it will go off regardless! Plus I can speed up the timer at will! You'll only harm yourselves!" I scream out.

Everyone considers this. I smile as wide as I can.

"Alright, alright." A deep voiced man sighs. "What do you need?"

"I need the hostage in the prison transport van that a Divine has taken." I reply.

"Alright. Let me deal with something and I'll get him alright?"

"Right? Right! Bye, bye! Hehe. I'll be waiting."

Okay so Placido will come home and everything will be alright. There's no need to be afraid this time. Right? Right! Next time we will succeed and time will live and we will live and the earth will live and Kami will be proud. I promise. Because I'm getting tired and I'm getting rusty. So stupid. So very stupid. Right? Right. Ahahahahaha! Why give me feelings when my sole purpose is t complete the circuit? Why give me emotions? There is no point. No point at all. I hate all emotions. I hate all feelings. Because I wouldn't be so desperate without them. I wouldn't be so lonely. Right? So I guess in the end the only thing to do is end it all. End this never ending cycle with one more. And if time dies then it will never end. And I can't bear that. No one can. Right? So this time I will get it right. Right? Everyone will stay alive until their duties are done. Placido will not get stabbed, shut down, smelted, smashed or stomped. Fudo Yuusei will not be murdered. Jack Atlus will not die. And most importantly someone will get that happy ending that I read about so long ago, even if it isn't me, because isn't that what we're fighting for? Right? Yeah. Yeah that's right.

"Alright kid. Calm down and we'll get you the hostage. Alright? Now relax. How old are you?" The man asks.

This man is really funny looking. Funny looking with big bushy eyebrows and a huge scar and all over greasy looking. Funny.

"Older than you!" I snap back.

He waves his hands in front of his chest.

"Listen kid if you don't calm down someone might shoot you. And you don't want that. I mean after all you're probably not doing this willingly. Alright?"

"For one I am and so? If I get shoot then bye, bye! So you can't do that. You can't kill me. Right? Right! Just get me the hostage and everything will be fine."

"Let me speak to someone about that, alright? Just tell me who your boss is."

"Kami. Kami is."

"Kami? I see. Alright."

They must think I'm insane. Whatever. I just need Placido back home. I need him. I need him to stay alive. Because I can't do this on my own anymore. Because every single time I'm alone horrible things happen. In the first cycle, in that cycle I ended up killing him. And Kami couldn't fix him. And he couldn't build another one because of the valuable information on him. So I had to go back before I did that. Back to before he was built. And that means that everything is my fault. Right? Right. I got angry. Anger ruins plans. Anger ruins everything. So why was I cursed with emotion? I cry and I bleed and I scream and I love and I hate and oh I hate. And Placido is having a bad day if he feels anything but amusement and anger. And that's how pathetic I am. That's how pathetic I am. Because I can't help but cry when people get hurt. I hate everything and everyone. Right? Right! And that's hilarious! Because androids shouldn't be able to feel this way should they and yet I do? _Androids can't feel! Androids can't feel! And yet we do! Ahahahahahahaha! How flawed! Are we the ones dancing now? Right? R-right! That's exactly right. We can feel. And that's a tragedy. _

"Sir the van crashed." A faceless, nameless, useless nobody mentions.

_Crashed? Placido's hurt then. Placido is hurt. __No. No. Nononononononononononononoonono. NO! Alone? Alone again? __And I can't go back. Without help. Jose. He should be home by now and he isn't either. Everything is ruined! Everything! All for feelings? R-right? Yeah, yeah, yeah RIGHT! It's a tragedy, such a calamity. The loss of all time. The loss of all time. Is such a tragedy, such a calamity. Such an accident. Right? Yeah right. So I guess that I'll have to make gooooood on my proooooomise then, right? Right! Aha. Right. _

_I walk away from the scene and Security is so coooooonfuuuuused. And the explosion happens behind me. I mean I wouldn't keep a bomb thaaaaaat clooooooose would I? No. That's right! It'd be soooooo dangeroooous. Right! _I need to calm down. He's okay. Right? He has to be. And even if he isn't then I'll, I'll, I'll do it on my own. I will turn back time. Right. Right! I promise!

_I caaaaaaaan't dooooooo it. I'm worthless. I'm a calamity. I'm not good enough. It's pointless. This world doesn't even deserve to be saved. It's so flawed and so ugly. So I ought to just erase it completely. After all the people on it only want to harm each other. Blood and burns are in the air, I can smell it. Tears are being shed, I can taste it! _Calm. Calm down. Because Placido needs my help and I will help him. I promise. I always keep my promises. Right!

And so I set off to his location. Because I WILL save this world, even if it's trash. For Kami. And maybe for myself, just a little. Just a little. Hilarious. Right? Right! So let's go!

**Author Note: **Lucciano's characterization was greatly inspired by Mary from Ib and Ib herself. So he's a very idealistic and brave boy in the cusp of insanity held together by someone he looks up to and his own troublesome emotions. He desperately wants to be something and he will be. Even if he falls trying. Anyway this concludes the Artificial Arc until the finale. It is also a fairly large chunk of the plot and of Sector Security's Tragic Calamity! We get to continue that next time and then, well then you'll see. Only eight chapters left until you can see the full extent of my handiwork! Right? Right! See ya next time.


	11. Ushio

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **Please don't blame Leon this time I got sick but I'm better now. Ushio's characterization us really hard damn. Just don't leave some kind of what is the word in the comment. That word. Uh. Oh yeah

Meltdown

I may not be the best or the smartest person around here but I seem to be the only one that knows something's up. Of course Yuusei couldn't be actually dead because, well because that's not the way it works. And if he's dead then something is horribly wrong. So what's wrong then? More magic? Probably. It's always magic around here. I guess this town is just a weirdness magnet. After all you don't see this kind of stuff happening anywhere else do you?

So what are the clues here to who's the culprit? Let's see Jack died first. So it can't be him. Kiryu and Bruno did it so it can't be them, besides they have no motivation. It can't be Yuusei. The twins are out because they're the twins. I'm out, Kazama's out, Mikage's out, Yeager's out cause he's freaking Yeager, he never does anything on his own. The former Director is dead but I'll keep him in mind because being dead never stopped anyone before. Crow hasn't done it because yeah. Crow couldn't. But he might of so I'll think about it. That takes out the unknown knowns, known knowns and known unknowns and that means that this has to be something completely out of context. A different kind of magic. A different kind of culprit has to be responsible. That's great, yeah. Last time this happened I got possessed by a spider. So who's the culprit? I'll just have to figure it out on the way. Or maybe I could ask Yuusei's friends for help. They are smart. And better at this then me. Hey why am I bothering? I can't possibly know what I'm talking about. Whatever. Is it time for my break yet?

A small finger taps on my shoulder.

"What do you want?" I snap.

"Ushio could you go to the town center please because there is an issue and a higher ranking officer needs to go and you're high ranking enough plus you have experience in his kind of field and you know magic like things because you were there and this little boy has a bomb but we're pretty sure he isn't a little boy could you just go?" Mikage runs on.

"You came to ask me in person?" I ask.

She slaps me across the face.

"What was that for?"

"Making me so nervous."

"Mikage I think you're stressed."

"Go or I'll break you."

"You see that kind of-"

"Okay Ushio I am stressed. Divine has just escaped from prison, a little boy has run into city center with a bomb, the person that's best equipped to deal with it's dead, Yeager's skipped town."

Yeager's skipped town. Figures. He does have a family to take care of but still...

"And I'm working with a bunch of monkeys. And Jack, Jack's not with us anymore. So yes Ushio I am stressed. We don't even have anyone to take up the slack. They don't have anyone but me willing to take up Directorship. Everyone else qualified is either dead or missing. What's happening? I don't even know. Just go. I need to tell Kaz what's going on, maybe he can catch Divine. He's good at what he does."

And maybe that stung a little. She seems to consider me a monkey. Maybe I could make her proud. Probably not.

I sigh and grab my keys off the table. Mikage is already gone. She's pretty fast for someone wearing spikes on their shoes. I better tell Kazama what's going on so he doesn't do something stupid. Everyone around me's so brave it's gone into pure stupidity. And then there's me. I'll probably have an empty death in the end, a watch out for that bus, a you're going too fast. Well that's no problem in hindsight. Some men are meant to be good and some men are meant to be great. I'm glad enough to be a good man right now. After all it takes a lot of work to change a personality. I should be proud enough that I did that. I really should be. I should do that and leave this magic business to Yuusei and company. I'll just do my job.

"Ushio hey." Kazama smiles.

"What do you want?" I growl back.

Not often that people call me before I call them. Kazama's nice.

"Have you heard about—"

"Divine yep but I have bigger problems to deal with."

"Like?"

"Some kid is threatening to blow up the part of the city unless the hostage is released. Some really weird shit's going down."

"Well then I'm glad I'm chasing after the sociopathic psychic and not where you are."

"Yeah, yeah. Kazama make sure whoever's in the car get's out alive. If there are any doubts the whole place is going boom."

"Alright."

And I go for the drive to the city. Maybe I can be a hero. Ha. Sometimes I can laugh about myself. That's good right? Healthy I think. I really don't want to develop any kinds of mental illnesses. It's like you can develop them just by living in the city. It feels that way. Everyone I know is a little off. Not even like a mental illness off but like they aren't even human. It's so strange. Maybe that's what makes a hero. He ability to be inhuman when necessary. Heaven knows Aki and Yuusei have it down. Jack just seemed spoilt at first but now he's... strange. Bruno is the strangest though. He seems like he's some kind of robot even. No that's rude. I really need to get out more. Some of the only people I spent any time with I think are robots or aliens. Not healthy. I should get another psych test. Especially after this. It's magic. Always is.

A red and white motorcycle drives fast with incredible speed. If I didn't have better things to do I'd ticket em. God damn why does no one move for the cops? This is a city of liars and thieves so why don' they move? It would do them some good. After all why rush to the city center that's being threatened? Then again this has always been a city of liars and thieves. No one if beyond that. No one but Yuusei apparently. So then who are the liars and what are the lies? Thieves don't murder except for money and heaven knows Yuusei didn't have much. So liars it is. Bruno's a liar then by process of elimination. Then again what do I know? I should just do my job for once. Be a real hero. I guess. Mikage can appreciate that. I'm sure.

Why don't people move for the cops? A chorus of move out of the way fuckers comes from the cars around me. I'm walking. That's it. I don't care if I'm late to save your sorry asses. Dying like sheep from a slaughter. Watching genuine people suffering with eyes like hungry dogs. Honestly I liked Satellite better. I mean they're scum there but they're better scum. I'm gonna leave here one day. I'm gonna leave with Mikage and we're gonna go somewhere nice. Someplace where the only decent people are thieves and the only real heroes are inhuman. And then we'll finally enjoy life without the fear of a painful death hanging over our heads. Because death is always here in Satellite. And there's no freedom in Domino so it's best to just end it.

Am I here yet? Yeah. I am.

"And then everyone goes bye, bye. Right? Right!" Giggles a boy of about ten.

He is wearing a shower curtain and some cloak over his head. He also looks like he's wearing a pair of blue and white pjs and some roller skates. Magic. I knew it. It's probably some magic cult.

"The bomb is time release so if you arrest me it will go off regardless! Plus I can speed up the timer at will! You'll only harm yourselves!" The boy hisses.

Everyone around me pauses.

"Alright, alright. What do you need?" I ask.

"I need the hostage in the prison transport van that a Divine has taken." The boy answers.

Divine? How does he—magic. Why can't I have an ordinary robbery anymore? It's either paperwork or a life or death situation nowadays.

"Alright. Let me deal with something and I'll get him alright?" I sigh.

"Right? Right! Bye, bye! Hehe. I'll be waiting." The boy giggles again.

I try to check in with Mikage.

The phone rings several times. If she won't pick up then she may have well screwed me over. And what then? I don't know anything. I can't deal with this on my own. Mikage please pick up.

"Please leave a message—"

I fling the phone across the ground and it shatters on impact. What will I do now? I guess I could stall. I can do that. I mean it's not my job to be a hero. We can't all be great. But for once I will be good.

"Alright kid. Calm down and we'll get you the hostage. Alright? Now relax. How old are you?" I try to soothe him.

The kid grins with teeth that could bite off my finger if they wanted to and laughs.

"Older than you!"

I wave my hands in front of my chest to try and calm him down.

"Listen kid if you don't calm down someone might shoot you. And you don't want that. I mean after all you're probably not doing this willingly. Alright?" I ask, hoping that this kid doesn't really want to blow us all up.

"For one I am and so? If I get shoot then bye, bye! So you can't do that. You can't kill me. Right? Right! Just get me the hostage and everything will be fine." The kid screams as his eyes nearly break with tears.

I don't know a lot about anything. I don't know much at all. But I do understand that this isn't alright. I won't hurt this kid even if he has his finger on the trigger.

"Let me speak to someone about that, alright? Just tell me who your boss is." I demand.

"Kami. Kami is."

Kami. As far as I know there is an actual God and it is telling this kid to do this. I mean anything's possbiel around here isn't it? Yeah.

"Kami? I see. Alright." I reply.

The kid sneers at me.

A grunt taps me on the shoulder. Just like Mikage.

"Sir the van crashed."

The kid bursts into laughter and hums underneath it. The grunt takes off running. Can I come the kid down? I'm, I'm not sure. I'll try it. Maybe I can do some good.

The kid turns away with another chuckle and explosions happen. One of them's pretty clo—

Light. It's too light. It's way too bright. Am I dying? Am I dying in Domino? A city of liars and thieves. I am. Ha. I'm dying as a faceless, nameless, useless nobody in town where you're either a sheep or a wolf or a God damn fox. And I die as a sheep. I'm sorry I can't do anything right. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so selfish. But Mikage... I'm sorry I can't help you or be the hero you need. Mikage... I'm, I'm so so sorry. I I w-wanted to b-be som-something.

**Additional Note: **Having computer issues so some stuff is late sorry guys. Anyways Yeager didn't skip town he's actually dead but that's not gonna get explained so there you go. 


	12. Mikage

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **I was going to bed an hour ago but updates had to be done. However if I don't go to sleep down I think I am going to

Meltdown

Some things are not meant to be tampered with. I wish that I had paid attention when I was told that. This is all my fault. Everything. Atlus-Sama. If I could change it I would. I would do anything. I would completely turn time inside out to get Atlus-Sama back. What happened? I'm, I'm not even sure. Some woman stole the device though. And, and I don't think I can get it back.

My name is Sagiri Mikage and I did something very horrid. I, well I, I stole a device to alter time. A device to prevent Nagisaki Carly from stealing Atlus-Sama's heart. It was selfish. And it was cruel. And I did it anyway. And it didn't work. Didn't work right. It was stolen from me right after the fifth rewind actually. I just wanted him to love me. Is that a crime? But every time something horrible happened. Death or insanity or possession or mutilation. I saw Atlus-Sama in agony and death five times. And every time someone went down with him. From Bruno Borelli in the fifth one to Akiza Iyazoi from the third. Every single time something would happen because Carly was not there. Because she hadn't changed Jack. And now, now I think I hate her all the more. And now we're doomed. Aren't we? The Shining Star finally fell under the cold and rusty blade of an unchanged and deluded Jack Atlus all because I had to go back, all because I am a selfish little monster.

The device is a sword. A sword. I actually confiscated and hid a sword for five rewinds. It could cut through space and time. Apparently there were two. I took one. I thought it was an ordinary sword. You should have seen my face when I sliced to before the two of them met. I set things up so they wouldn't. Oops. Chaos happened immediately afterwards though. One thing lead to another and Atlus, Atlus-Sama ended up being killed by the leader of The Arcadia Movement as the vessel for Aslla Piscu. They call it The Butterfly Effect, one butterfly half way across the world can cause a hurricane. One change in time can cause everything to alter. This was small though in comparison to the other rewind. Every rewind was worst than the last. In one Carly and Jack did met but they didn't have a real relationship because Carly died earlier. And so she raided The Arcadia Movement earlier and we ended up with Aki dead in the third cycle. In the fourth Crow was a dark signer and he and Atlus-Sama dueled and confessed THEIR love to each other. Yes instead of Nagisaki he became attached to Crow. And became his Dark King. And that, that was horrible. Ugh. Unbearable to think that Atlus-Sama could be corrupted in that way. But I could rewind my mistakes away. This time, this time though I think a rewind happened that I wasn't aware of because Carly and Jack did met and they did fall in love. But Atlus-Sama never acted on it again and Carly never acted on it either. He simply grew more and more attached to Yuusei. And that's where this tragedy starts.

I don't know the details but I do know that because of my actions both Jack and Yuusei have died and Bruno Borelli and Kyosuke Kiryu are on trial for Jack's murder. They are bound to go but for some reason the trial keeps getting pushed back and there has been mention of the case even being dropped. Also Atlus-Sama killed Yuusei. And I have no idea why. And that is why I have to retrieve the sword form that thief and turn time back. Because I can not live in a world without hope. And because I need to set things right. It's all my fault. Everything. Could it possibly get any worse? The phone rings.

"Sagiri-San a prisoner has escaped." A deep voice mentions.

"W-who" I manage to stutter out.

"Divine."

Divine. Why wouldn't it be Divine?

"He found cards and made an escape with a female hostage."

Hostage? Knowing my luck it's someone highly important that even knows where the sword is. Or the person that took mine. Kazama. Kazama's around the area. Another call comes in. A frantic man this time.

"Some kid is threatening to level the city! WE NEED HELP!" He shrieks.

I send some of the people on hand out before bringing this to Ushio.

I run over and tap him on the shoulder. He snaps at me.

"What do you want?" He growls.

"Ushio could you go to the town center please because there is an issue and a higher ranking officer needs to go and you're high ranking enough plus you have experience in his kind of field and you know magic like things because you were there and this little boy has a bomb but we're pretty sure he isn't a little boy could you just go?" I ramble on.

"You came to ask me in person?" Ushio smiles as he raises an eyebrow.

I strike him across the face out of anxiety and anger.

"What was that for?"

"Making me so nervous."

"Mikage I think you're stressed."

"Go or I'll break you."

"You see that kind of-"

"Okay Ushio I am stressed. Divine has just escaped from prison, a little boy has run into city center with a bomb, the person that's best equipped to deal with it's dead, Yeager's skipped town."

"And I'm working with a bunch of monkeys. And Jack, Jack's not with us anymore. So yes Ushio I am stressed. We don't even have anyone to take up the slack. They don't have anyone but me willing to take up Directorship. Everyone else qualified is either dead or missing. What's happening? I don't even know. Just go. I need to tell Kaz what's going on, maybe he can catch Divine. He's good at what he does."

He turns away from me and I run off to speak to Kazama. I turn on the console in my office and are those jellybeans? If only he knew what he had to do. He wouldn't be relaxing.

"Divine has escaped. You are the only one near him. I'm sorry Kaz." I manage to choke out.

He looks terrified before putting on a calm composure.

"It'll be alright!" He winks with a smile that doesn't reassure either of us for a second.

"So where is he?" Kazama questions.

"We don't quite know." I mutter.

"Well what do you know?"

"We know that he's around you and that he's driving a prison truck. And he has a hostage."

"Who's the hostage?"

"We don't know."

"What does the hostage look like?"

"A young albino woman with spikey hair."

"Alright. She won't be hard to miss. Anything else?"

"No."

"Alright."

I motion to shut it off.

"Kaz?"

"Yeah Sagiri-San?"

"Don't die."

I can not deal with anymore death. I can not dela with my actions causing harm to another person. If he dies-

"Psst, I'll be alright."

"Okay."

I can not deal with any more death. That boy in the city with those threats. What does that boy want? A sudden idea strikes, slim but I am desperate. I call up the man again.

"Does the boy have a sword?" I ask.

"Yes but what does that have to with anything?!" The man howls.

I hang up. A lucky day for me? Thank you. I will simply go and get that sword from the boy. And then everything will be well. And then I can go back and make sure none of this happens. And then and then I don't know what. But it will be happy. It will be a happy ending. Just get the sword, protect the city and fix everything. Like a hero would. Just like Jack would.

Now this is where things get difficult. A back up plan. If, if the boy somehow loses the sword or it is not the same sword or something even worse happens then I will use the forensics laboratory to find the woman that stole mine and then I go back. After all that woman must have a selfish and terrible reason for doing this. Just like I did. Just like I do. Because that's what stupid people do. They tamper with things that are not to be touched. But sometimes stupid people like I am can actually save the day, get a happy ending. And I will. This time. This time I will get it right. I will allow all selfishness to vanish. I will allow all forms of self to vanish. And I, and I will make sure that everyone, from that boy even to Jack himself, will live happily and freely without consequence. Because I am sick of death. And I am sick of blood. And I sick of the crying and the screaming. This time I vow that I'll fix everything. Because I love Atlus-Sama that much. And that's why I am a fool.

The phone rings again. I ignore it for a little while before picking it up.

"He did it. The van crashed and so he kid did it. He blew up the city center. It was a small explosion but someone's bound to be dead. Lucky day isn't it? Just so damn lucky." A woman chokes into the phone.

I flip it shut quickly. That boy, that boy destroyed the only chance I had at making things right, at saving the only person I have every killed. What am I going to do now? Find that woman. Can I? I don't think so but I have to try. I have to. So if I have hope then why am I crying? If I have faith then why am I sobbing?I pull up Kazama on the console and I choke on my breath.

"K-Kaz, he did it." I whimper."He did it. He heard about the crash. He did it. All the emergency services have been diverted there. Do crowd control. I don't care if Divine leaves the country! Just don't let anyone die! I don't think I could handle that!"

No more death. No more. Never again. I can't bear it. I can't handle it! Just let me drown myself in a pillow and blankets! Just let me suffocate myself in yesterdays nightmares! Let me wake up please! Please!

"Everything will be alright. I promise." Kazama lies.

I smash the console by dropping it. I can't even wake up from this nightmare. Please show me a happy dream just once. I'm so sorry for my selfishness. I'm sorry but I didn't think it could be helped. But please, oh please, please, please, show me a happy dream. For once in this forsaken city with these forsaken people and this lonely little life of mine show me mercy and let me just hope, not have, just hope that I could save my friends, my, my family. Even if I'm an outsider to them, let me look in. I am, I am sorry. Just let me be Atlus-Sama's shining star. Even if I'm dreaming. Just let me. I'm sorry for being so selfish. I just wanted a happy ending.


	13. Aki

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **Sorry for the interruption but my computer died then I got the flu and all is well again. Let's murder some more of the cast. However film noir Aki. Shall we

Meltdown

I had left Crow shortly after he got the call from Brave about his accident and his friend. In hindsight it was probably a mistake to leave the grieving man behind with another but I had, have, bigger issues to pursue in the form of a familiar man with a familiar face and an unfamiliar accomplice. And I had Carly. Oh Carly.

Divine had escaped from his comfortable cell in prison today. He's also the one responsible for the death of Brave's friend and the injury of the other. He's also indirectly responsible for the explosion in town centre which according to the news has killed dozens. As per usual he is making his entrance as overly dramatic as he possibly can as if to say 'Hello Aki I am here. Have you missed me?' The fact that I had only briefly missed him is bound to aggravate the issue.

He has an unfamiliar accomplice as I may have mentioned before. Therefore her name eludes me. However he has been calling her S.P.W which must be her initials. This poor girl has no idea what kind of trouble she's gotten herself into. If she doesn't yield her life will most likely end. As mine had. I no longer have any drive, any point, and thus I paint on a cheerful disposition and and maximize the moisture in my eyes until they're perfectly wet and I am sympathetic and normal. That's how people behave right? They are happy and sad on the outside while on the inside they're _burning with a fury that can not be contained and can not hold and is tearing them APART! _I have learnt it to be so. Even the calmest and cruelest of people are crying and screaming on the inside of their foolish and meaningless chests. Even Yuusei did, even Godwin did and sure as hell, which I know very well thank you, Divine does. He hides it very well. He hides it so much that you'd think it was just smugness but no. Everyone burns inside. That is the third greatest lesson.

As I was saying before the distraction of perverted and meaningless ramblings of a suicidal teenage girl. Yes. I had matters of which we of greater importance to me. Mainly Divine and Carly, mainly Carly. You see Carly is not in a very good state of mind due to the untimely death of her no-longer lover and heading straight in her unwell direction is the man that killed her and has actually been rumored to be responsible for Jack's death. As you can see Carly is my biggest concern. As much as I loathe the man _lies _I can not bear to see him die in this manner. She is not well and he has never been well and this just can not happen it is too much to bear. I refuse to let it happen.

Now you see Carly is actually waiting for him; for the scoop you see. She is waiting with some members of Security due to the fact that Kazama had let him run by in an attempt to assure the survival of Brave and his friends, a valiant effort though it was all in vain. She's bound to lose it if she actually sees him. And that would be a shame. _Because I've already lost him too many times, can't you see that? They still don't accept me. They hate me. They wish to be rid of me and I am still scared! And I am still burning inside and he is the only thing I have known._ It would be a shame because he knows so much about psychics and our abilities. Imagine losing that knowledge. It would set us back a bit.

And thus I walked there. My D-Wheel was not in great order and I left it at the garage. I hope it will be there when I get back as all the terror in the city has caused riots and what not to break out among the area. And people have died in them and people are still dying. But right now, it's of no concern to me! Too loud again. Too much noise.

And now we are at the current point in time after much distraction by my thoughts and ramblings. Here we are Black Fairy Dragon. All is well for once but not for long as I can feel his presence I am afraid. Carly seems like she's alright, absorbed in her photography, it's as if... he never even...

"Hello Aki. Did you miss me? You've seemed to have made some friends. That's okay, a girl your age needs friends." A familiar smirking voice that must be burning up inside calls out.

And look and see his face is twisted in a smirk and it is offensive to my eyes and thus I speak up.

"Divine you won't pass!" I cry with my moments carefully planned; normal people emote like this.

I'm normal. I'm very normal.

"Aki, that's no way to greet an old friend." He tsks. "You'd think, well you'd think, you aren't happy to see me. Oh well. Would you kindly move Aki? I have some business to attend to on a different continent."

"I can't do that! For the sake of the people you've harmed!" I saturate my voice with emotion, so much that it can't even be bared.

"Aki, Aki, you've fallen so much but alright let's listen to your sorry pleas. Oh that's enough already. Okay. Now S.P.W help me get past her!" He cries with the smugness in his voice still, I hope he's still burning inside.

A flash of light appears actually. She's a card, a spirit partner. Amazing. Divine having a spirit partner as those in the books long ago did. However this spirit partner must be Serene Psychic Witch and she's very dangerous. The moments where I wish it was Esper Girl.

"Fight for me." Divine pouts before grinning again.

He looks as if he's gone mad. His face keeps moving in exaggerated positions and the pitch and tone of his voice and fluctuating greatly. What happened between the period he crashed that van and now? As far as I can tell only a long and hard talk with himself could have caused this kind of change in such a short timespan. We're all changing because of this. _We really ought to stop talking to ourselves then. It'd solve so many problems, no more talking, just feeling, just burning. It's soothing._

"Yes Sir." The monster nods.

She looks me directly in the eyes and _even she is burning up inside _we prepare to duel.

"Uh uh Aki, I know how these things work!" Divine laughs with the playfulness of a child however his demeanor shifts to what must show his true state. "**_SO WE'RE NOT GONNA DO THAT!"_**

I jumped at it I admit. It was very loud and shrill and bitter for someone that was my hero and my saviour just a few years ago. He must be burning up a firestorm in there.

"Oh no Aki, we won't be DUELING, it will be a good old regular fight to the death." Divine laughs again, a laugh that is arguably familiar, it reminds me of Kiryu's.

It reminds me of Kiryu's very much. Clearly he's gone mad. I wonder what he told himself. The truth in the end. The truth is the only thing that makes men go mad in the end.

"However I am dearly troubled by the fact that SPW has the advantage, why with her inability to actually die and her innate abilities ones that you LACK." He screams again, jittering me out of my stupor.

"A fight to the death?" Carly mutters.

"Last chance to MOVE! Oh and Security, you dumbasses, I've acquired some more cards since you've last seen me. So prepare yourselves for Ultimate Axon Kicker and Magical Android! Destroy them, all of them, spare no one! Ahaha." Divine laughs once more.

The cards show themselves and I have to admit they are both terrifying in their own ways. Ultimate Axon Kicker with it's girth and threatening behavior and Magical Android with her regal poise and yet her deadly gaze.

"You know if you open this heart I've heard about suddenly monsters, well monsters call out to you. Isn't it prove that I'm not a demon if they open themselves to me so easily? Isn't that proof?" He screams to no one in particular. "Now you fight! Fight until you can't take anymore, fight until you collapse, or move perhaps."

"I won't move, Yuusei would disprove!" I cry out.

Divine scoffs and SPW takes her staff and begins her attacks.

I dodge them easily. It's clear she isn't really as fond as murdering everyone as her companions. Divine has focused himself on babbling to no one in particular. Ultimate Axon Kicker and Magical Android have already annihilated Security. A shame and a loss. I'll mourn them later. Carly however is gone, neither dead nor living as far as I can see.

"Would you mind dying very much?" SPW asks with an honestly serene voice.

"I would very much!" I cry with so much emotion.

Emotion is a mark of normality and I am very normal. Yuusei said.

"But why? All your friends are there." She states.

That causes me to stop and a blow lands, granted a weak one but it stuns me and my fingers feel very cold. _I am burning inside. I am burning for Yuusei and I am burning for Divine because oh god do I hate them so much and I admit, I admit, I ADMIT that in all fairness I have... I have_ _I want to see Yuusei again. I'm burning up inside._

"They'll be glad to see you." She mumbles. "Maybe you'll get a kiss from a special someone."

Another blow. My fingers, I can't even feel them.

"I am not, I am not, I am not, I had good intent, I had fair intent, where did it go wrong?!" Divine screeches to no one it seems.

_I am burning up inside with all the anger I have ever felt. And I know nothing truly of love but I admit, I admit, I ADMIT that in all fairness I have... I have... I want to... I have loved them both... with all... my heart._

**Author Note: **Cliffhanger! Also Divine's chapter was filler you see so surprise surprise he actually has two. Sorry about that but I need to explain more crap. But I after this block of three comes Kiryu's chapter so I hope you can forgive me.


	14. Carly

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **The irony of this situation is the fact that I didn't update so I could update a fic I haven't started yet because I needed to update this fic. Also Earthbound God Cigars and Cigarettes: Closer to Death is the best thing all day everything else for all I care can have a

Meltdown

Aki was desperately fighting off the Duel Monster as her former saviour, former hero, former friend did he call himself? Was laughing off into the distance with no rhyme or reason. I have a burning need for revenge and it's getting worse every single time I see her struck. He has no right to do this, to bite the hand that feed him, he's not special, he's not a God, an angel of death as he seems to claim. In my eyes, my eyes that even with glasses this thick can finally see and finally REALLY see, that he isn't worth my time. He isn't some great and elusive evil, some cliché villain that needs repentance in revenge, he's a scared little boy that locked himself away in a tower of blocks surrounded by other scared little boys and girls as he told them stories to make themselves feel better. That's all he is, and I'm bitter about it. I died, I died and I, I, I did horrible things over this man. I must be worthless. I must be completely useless. I really fell for it huh? The biggest scoop yet I thought, I could take him I thought, can't even take a little boy without help can you Carly? Whatever. If I've learnt anything, if I've learnt anything at all it's that even if you fall into the pits of hell someone has been deeper than you so there's no use acting depressed. I'd just depress Jack with my presence if I told him I, if I, I just don't remember much you see. I certainly don't remember Aslla Piscu or death or a thick fog that obscured the truth all my life. No I don't remember, let me have that happy dream at least.

Someone's going to have to stop him you know. It has to be me huh? How cliché. It's just too cliché. No, no, no Jack's more cliché, him saving me, us living happily ever after. Death is not cliché. Agony is not cliché. Though some may think it is. If you've ever FELT death, BEEN death, you'd appreciate how very NOT cliché it is. A cliché is having my happy ending, the one I was promised all along. But, but we can't all be happy can we? Kiryu knows and Yuusei knows and I know that Crow knows. But still they believe, the masses, the fuel that men, no boys, like Divine use, they use the lies we are told, happy endings, it's just too cliché. Too cliché for people like me right? Someone's going to have to stop him you know. It might as well be me. No one will miss him really, he's too cliché for that. Or maybe that's exactly why they'll miss him. A great source of knowledge she'll say, someone that we could have learnt something from she'll say, that's what's going to happen, exactly, because Aki still believes in happy endings because in the end that's all she's ever known, isn't it? A witch gets rescued from a dragon by a handsome prince and he reforms her and they live happily ever after and why can't that be ME Aki? I'm so stupid, so stupid. Someone's going to stop him you know, I guess I might as well.

And so I sneak up to him, the rambling little boy as he's being driven to tears in protest.

"You're a liar! I had good intentions, ALWAYS! I don't believe in your lies of damnation and pain! I don't believe! I don't even believe your here! I'm hallucinating! I think I'm paranoid! Manipulated! So, so just shut up! You know nothing! Nothing! Do you hear me you retched beast!? Eh? Eh? Ah I don't think soooooooo, I am DIVINE you hear me DIVINE, that man you speak of, he died, the one the jilted me, he died! And there is no monster in his place! I am not a daemon! I am not, I have always looked out for my KIND!" He screeches out in tears so thick he must be obscuring his vision.

And secretly I want him to stumble into someone's gun and have his brains blown out because it's the merciful death and I am merciful in the end I think. Secretly I am always very, very angry, surprise. Secretly I'm burning up on the inside!

And I continue sneaking close behind him with the intent of harm, to save Aki, to hurt Aki, to save him, to kill his name, I won't let him die, he'd just be a martyr for the cause. So I won't let him die because it makes me feel oh so much better to disguise cruelty as mercy!

I think I've lost my mind, I think as soon as that creature climbed into it it was gone in an instant. It was gone and Carly Nagisaki died. All that's left is her memory and the lies that the person that took her place spun. I couldn't let Jack see me like this, he'd hate me. Divine and I are alike in that regard it seems, he and I killed ourselves for no real reason, for a purpose beyond our intent, an intent that was cruel in my place and kind in his and oh what tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive. We have both deceived ourselves and continue to deceive as we can't bear the truth, well I can; now. I wonder if before he burns out if he'll see the light, I wouldn't put it past him to burn out without even seeing the sun he fought so hard to protect before night came and he found he liked it better. That's where we differ it seems, I am so horribly afraid of the dark and I ran as soon as I saw the sun over the horizen and he must be so scared of the sun as he ran from it as soon as he heard of it, as soon as he remembered it. What a sorrow fate that must be.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! Shut up." It begins to turn to whimpering. "Shut up. It isn't true, it's never been true, I, I, I don't need anyone. Everyone's, everyone I ever said I love you to I lied to them, people, people have always just been tools, weapons, for me, is that what you've been waiting to hear? Have you been waiting for me to admit that I am sociopath? That I am monster that has damned himself in good intentions? I'm sure that is exactly what you've been waiting for because you just can't admit, because it BURNS you up INSIDE, that you, you worked with me! You believed in me! And somehow, now, that you're morals have changed you want to make it seem like I was always the monster, that I did this all, that you were never there telling about your life, about the agony and the pain that people go through and what your previous owner went through and how we are prosecuted and despised and murdered in the streets as sub human scum! And it's not my fault you've suddenly had a change of heart, I am not a monster because of you! I am not a monster! I am a hero! A saviour! I want people that are special, better, like me and Aki and you're former master to live in harmony, beyond harmony, have lives better than those of those that have done this to us! The filthy, scum of this earth, those without abilties, the real sub humans! Real sub humans are ordinary people because they can't see the other pictures! The bigger one! Evolution! Superiority! They want everything to remain the same even though we are changing every second! And that just makes me sick to the pit of my stomach and it burns me up inside to the point where I'm going to scratch the eyes out of anyone that even dares act like I'm not better! That dare tell me that I'm sub human again! I have transcended humanity, that's what psychics are! Evolutions, the superior human, and if you can't see that than I am deeply afraid that you are nothing but worthless scum! I! AM! NOT! THE! MONSTER!"

Look at him rambling; he's admitted his unreasonable ego too many times to count. What is it they say? Beware he who fights monster lest he become a monster and what else? I'll remember.

I'm so close to him, so very close, so close I could kill his breath. I'll protect Aki despite how cliché this whole scenario is (it isn't at all but cliché is the only thing I've ever known. There's no originality in Neo-Domino, just more lies than could ever have dripped from the most despicable mouths.), I promise I will because of Yuusei and Jack and Crow and because she needs my help and she's silly and she's nice and she's a good person despite burning up inside and writhing and drying and muttering under her breath about how goddamned horrible she is and crying about witches and things she really knows nothing about but she IS a good person. In the fairy tale of our lives I'm the witch that runs into Divine's arms screaming as she's dragged into the darkness and never sees the light without fear and she's the beautiful princess that everyone adores and that's so cliché. In the fairy tale I'm a witch and Jack's a king and never will the twain meet until my head is resting on a plate. Aren't fairy tales awful? Yes? No? Partially? Regardless in this cliché world of lies where everyone has to be cheating I think that I may in the end be a success somehow, even if that success if burning someone up until they can't breathe and they have to see what they've done.

I finally tackle the fumbling little boy and before he can even scream, even think, I'm punching him. Divine god, of a world all his own and I a complete failure that believed in fairy tales til six months ago and I'm punching the daylights out of him. It's so not cliché I think I'm going to choke on laughter if I could laugh without crying and without faking it for once.

"Carly Nagisaki?" He chokes out in shock.

I silence him with another punch. He smiles a bloody and partially toothless (I took out a tooth) smile. Cold fingers brush my neck as I am pulled away. Aki'll we alright then. Good. The Duel Monster that was formerly attacking Aki picks me up and begins to cause extreme cold. I smile because there's nothing else to do but smile at her. Out of the corner of my eye I see Aki, psychic Aki, violent Aki, The Black Rose Witch attacking her former saviour without mercy. The Duel Monster drops me and I manage a shudder or two before my body grows numb and my face freezes this way. My camera drops and snaps a picture of the scene. A dead green eye is all I can see in my camera, it must have zoomed. So cold. You know, I remember the quote now, it ends with and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you. So I must have... just looked in...to and ab...ysss...look...I'm burn...ing...up...inside...be... cause... of...dark...he...must... burn... looking... in... eyes... of mine... shrivel in the sun. Oh, oh. So cliché. Right Jack?


	15. Divine

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **Due to Divine already getting part a chapter this will be a drabble on why exactly he's flipped his shit. So tonight there will be two updates, Divine's drabble and the hidden character's chapter and perhaps Bruno's chapter. Also that means that we have four chapters left. Also I want you to know that throughout this entire thing the only music I've listened to while writing has been

Meltdown

"Eugene." It whispers at me and I scratch it away. "Eugene. I'm sorry I left, I left and allowed you to become this. You're damned, damned if you don't cease this."

And where does it think it can tell me that? Eh? It can't tell me anything like that. I need to keep moving. I need to leave this city before all hell breaks loose. This thing, this thing is only a distraction, nothing more than an annoying insect.

"You are damned and you can't be helped and for that I am very sorry. Please allow me to put you out of your misery." It whispers again.

"Go away, I've moved on. I have plenty of others that will gladly follow my lead, you, famous as you are, are nothing more than an insolent fool compared them. You are outdated and corrupted and your falling apart you filthy beast." I snap back as I dig my nails into my palms.

"I'm praying for you Eugene." It whimpers.

"Silence your prayers! I don't need the stuff. It's useless. All of it. You might as well throw it out! All your wishes, your dreams, your hopes and especially your god forsaken prayers! It never got either of us anywhere so why are you pretending it's going to bring him back!"

"Bring him back? But Eugene... you are him."

"Don't be absurd! That man, your knight, the knight that jilted me died! Accept it! A battle broke out and I was the victor. Now leave before I have you destroyed!"

I quicken my pace to try and escape the words of the foul beast that trails behind me. Memories stat closing in and I use my mind to try and push them back but they won't go, no their stuck with me for life. My greatest curse.

_Memories of a young boy sifting through trash in that transient city they call Neo-Domino. Who could believe some one so poor was living in that shining city? The young boy sifts through it until he pulls out a card with the paper peeling off and the wording faded. A dark card, a light card, a very special card. One that even that boy couldn't believe he drew. An Archlord Kristya. Now I admit that this card doesn't seem that special but what that card meant was special. That card belonged to a very famous man with a very special ability, not unlike that boy, the ability to see the future. And that card told the boy of that famous man's life and the hardships he endured and the horrific things he did and that boy thought 'I want to be like this.'. And so he collected as many cards as he could from all over the the area. Cards of a certain type that many overlooked, Psychic types. They reflected what was in his heart, an artificial, methodical, manipulative sort of evil. One that was based around sacrifice for the benefit of a greater good, and yes it may have been cruel but sometimes change requires a deep cruelty. _

_And so this boy took his perceived Ace Monster and his seemingly useless deck of unwanteds such as himself and began to duel with a fever that I have not felt nor seen since. He dueled as if his life depended on it because no matter which way you looked at it it did. For this boy was starving on the streets of this Utopia. And one day during a particularly tough duel with a Psychic Deck's worst enemy, someone that was fond of DNA Surgery, the boy unveiled the deadly abilities that removed his parents from the picture. His younger opponent was struck in a frenzy with real pain from the very real lucky find Archlord Kristya. Death was imminent and in the end the boy was the only one left standing with sweat dripping from his forehead and laughter in his mouth. He had just killed someone with a Duel Monster, he had just killed someone. It wasn't even brutal thinking back. It was just another evil, just two more legs that will never move again, another mouth that won't spew hate again, another worthless life erased, just another pointless heart that was crushed because it was too weak. And that boy felt no sympathy for his opponent. If one can not fight back than they're better of dead!_

_And so this boy climbed up the ranks with his impossibly strong powers. He manipulated and seduced and murdered and drove mad all those that stood in his way until it had been thirteen years and he was standing on the top as he looked below the very top of his brave new world. One that he built for people just like him, his one and only real dream after his deepest prayers had failed to save him and murder was the only solution. Yes, that dream that carried him through starvation and thirst and blood and blood and the stench of death on his hands and fire in the air every single time he dared get close. The dream that people like him, the supposed dregs of society could finally be equal, be respected. And that dream was almost achieved you know, sadly a new player and things impossible for him to account for happened and rendered him unable to continue his dream. That is my story. This is how we got here._

"Eugene, Eugene that's not how the story goes." Archlord Kristya informs me.

"How did you kn- oh yes you claim we have a deep link. Hmn. That is how the story goes you foolish trash can. I think your brain has started to decompose from all those years in that dump I left you in."

"Eugene... the story is the once upon a time there was a boy of fourteen. His name was Eugene Ross and he once had a very happy and loving family but the darkness inside his heart was stronger than the love of others. The young boy lost control of the darkness and his powers and burnt the house down with both of his parents inside. And so he was forced to take to the streets and there months later he found a very old card in a very old trash bin and he used it to climb to the top of those dank and depressing streets of false Utopia. And then he killed someone in an angry frenzy and he laughed and he laughed as his Duel Monsters, his only real friends, were powerless to calm him until he began to regret what he did. He than decided to pursue his dream to help others in his state and make sure they don't hurt anyone. Somewhere along the way though he lost his mind, lost his soul, if he even had one for surely the mark of a psychic is the lack of one as they are all equally damned, and than he cast those pure humans from his land and began to take in more and more damned souls to damn them even further and-"

"Shut up! I have only had good intent! Silence your mouth of talk of damnation!"

A silence fills the area. I continue down my path. It can't break me. It can't break me. I can't feel any pain at all so why, damn it, why do my prayers still ring in my head with his foolish beliefs in my damnation? Why does it still smell like ashes when I'm alone? Maybe if I focus on the task at hand I won't feel it anymore, I won't feel anymore pain, ever again.


	16. Sherry

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **I'm wondering, did anyone see this coming? Lo and behold a stand alone

Meltdown

Time and time again things have failed, I have failed. Time is not a toy they screamed, life is not a game they screamed, do not use things beyond your skills they screamed as they sat me back down but look, I have made progress. I have made progress in erasing every failure in my life, the failure to avenge my parents, the failure to protect the ones I love and most importantly the failure of the world itself for being unable to protect a happy family that had the potential to change the world. And so now time, the cruel bitch of a woman, is on my side at long last and I will make sure that I have a happy ending for I deserve it.

I should have threatened that woman so she'd tell me how this accursed thing works. I have tried taking apart only to be zapped and I have tried all the buttons but they merely deliver powerful shocks. Simply I have no idea how to work this object and she does. I should have threatened that woman. Another failure due to my inadequacy. Hardly surprising anymore.

I have heard that there is another sword, therefore there is another person that can use this. Whomever that person is I need to find them and soon, before the stroke of bad luck strikes me and I die. I need to go back in time and fix what went wrong. I need to fix my life. How selfish I am sure they would say if they knew of this. Why not help that heroic young man Fudou Yuusei? Because frankly I don't care. I just want my life. I just want a happy life with a happy ending. I don't have time for heroics, not this time.

The sword remains unresponsive and as such I fling it against the wall in rage. As I through it makes a distinct slashing motion and a portal opens, within that portal is the destination and date I wish to be. I run over to it and it shuts off immediately. I see. It appears that someone does not wish for me to have this object in my possession and are hacking it. Whomever is doing that will get no where for I am not allowed to fail, I shall not fail. I have made a promise and a true knight never breaks their word. Yes, yes I will repeat it a thousand times, Mama, Papa, I will give you your lives back, our lives back, or I will die trying!

I wish for the world to hear my prayers very greatly. I still hold that foolish belief that if I close my eyes and believe with all my heart that I can make my prayers come true. This isn't possible probably but still I wish with all my heart. I wish very much and I pray very much that what I seek will come to pass. Maybe if I wish enough so one will hear me. I still believe. This cruel world, this false transient Utopia, has not yet taken that from me. I can not allow that as well to be taken, it is the only thing I have left.

It bothers me greatly the fact that this sword is so difficult to master, after all the woman mastered it so easily. Is it true that her prayers were more heart felt than mine? I don't believe it to be so. Maybe my heart is no longer pure enough for wishes to be granted and prayers to be answered. Than I must hope, not pray or wish for those are for my family, that my purity can be restored, just a little. I hope that I can master this sword and travel back to before they were killed, before their lives were cruelly cut short. I want to live with Mama and Papa again and make them happy and enjoy life and never even have to come here and maybe even grow up with my heart as pure as the driven snow once more. These are things worth praying for, no one that has wielded this sword can even come close surely.

I suppose that I lost my purity after the first death. His was an accident surely. I was forcing information out of him and I used too much force. His life was crushed in my hands. I felt nothing I recall. Or perhaps I did, perhaps it was a slight tingle of loss from the hands that wrung his neck and spilt his blood. No one missed him, at least. I think I noticed when I stopped my prayers and wishes for Mama and Papa and replaced them with screaming, burning fury. I think that was what had to happen for them though. I don't think, even as a young girl, that I was ever pure enough for my prayers to me answered, never desperate enough. What baffles me completely is how that organization and that woman were able to do what I could not, can not, have their wishes granted and their prayers answer. Maybe it's what you're wishing for. Maybe they wanted small wishes or wishes that would benefit all. Perhaps my prayers and wishes are too big for my little heart to handle. Ah that is the likely solution, after all who could have a wish more pure than mine? These are the things worth wishing for.

I need to find that man or that woman or that boy, the one's who have used this sword. I need to find one and make them tell me the answer, the solution. I need to have them help me have my wishes granted and assure that I can keep my promises and my deepest vows. They must help me, surely no one would deny a wish worth killing for?

Sagiri Mikage, that's her name, I'm sure of it. A member of Security and the current Head of it though she is cut off from many of her men. She must be in her office, she wouldn't leave for risk of being struck down surely. And so I must go there once more and break her bones if I must. I'd even kill her to keep my deepest vows. Surely this is a wish worth killing for. It must be. It must be. If not than I don't believe there is any wish worth killing for. Mine is, was at least, innocent and chill and the sign of a pure heart. Nothing can compare to a love like this, familial love. Not the wish of romance, of riches, for strangers, for yourself, for the good of an entire continent. Nothing can compare to giving a little girl her family back. Family is the only thing worth living for, the bond between family is the deepest thing imaginable, the most innocent and pure.*

I set off to go and get the woman. I set off armed with my various threatening and deadly devices to which surely even the strongest would break down to. I take my keys and take my motorcycle towards her building. I wonder if she'll tell me out of the purity of her heart or her wickedness and selfishness will take center stage and drown me out. I wonder if she is a bastard like the majority of humans or a rare gem among the weeds. Ah, it is all irrelevant in the end, after all I am not leaving without this information and though it may seem cruel (as it is I suppose), she isn't leaving either, in any case. My deepest vows will not be broken over someone's pure selfishness. Even I am a little bit selfless. Just a little though. Hmn.

The best sensation in the world is the wind rustling past me. No matter how ridiculous anyone claims it may be this D-Wheel, this motorcycle represents my prayers and my wishes and my dreams. I don't care if you find it foolish or you hate them or you wish to be rid of them, you will not take away my dreams, my wishes, my prayers. They are mine to hold, they are mine to own, and I swear on the graves I have dug and the bodies I have burnt and the deepest vows I have made on my Mama and Papa's behalves that I will not sacrifice my dreams, not again. Especially not over something as ridiculous as someone finding my ability to play Duel Monsters on a D-Wheel stupid. Hmn. You don't have to like it but you do have to respect the fact that this represents my prayers and my wishes surely you must.

I pull up and with my helmet on fast I walk straight in. It seems as if Security is gone. Excellent. My prayers are being answered. Perhaps my heart is pure enough after all, or perhaps my wishing is just that strong.

I walk up to her and she looks at me with her large yellow eyes vacantly.

"Hey you can't be he- wait, you I, I remember you! Give me back that sword! I must make right what I've done wrong!" Sagiri Mikage cries.

"I am sorry Mademoiselle, but I can not return this sword. What you have done wrong is of no concern to me but this sword is necessary to repair my life. If you can not accept that and help me than I am afraid that you'll have to be forced to. It really is nothing personal." I reply.

"I, I can't! All this death, all this bruning agony, it's, it's me! I'm the one doing it and I'm so scared! Please! I need that sword so Atlus-Sama can live! I promised! It's my one and only wish!"

"Wish? Ah, you and I, we are very much the same, our bonds have turned to promises which in turn have turned into wishes for wishes are the only way to save them, right? However familial bonds are far deeper than others and you'll move on, I, I am incapable of such. Now help me or I'll destroy you."

The woman blinks and slowly walks over. She rushes forward and grabs the sword before taking off in her heels. I run after her and she's in front of the elevator and jabbing on the button with force of many pure wishes behind her. She sees me and starts running again, this time down the stairs, as I pursue. Her heels make loud clicks and she runs with the sword clutched tightly to her chest. She trips and shrieks.

I run down the stairs past her to the fallen sword and, and, and,

"You've broken it. You fool, you god forsaken, damned fool." I mutter.

She blinks and simply lays there on the floor.

"There, there is another though, perhaps, perhaps I can get it and than maybe my wish will be granted at last. Stay put, if you follow me then I will kill you and make sure that no one even sees your body, understood?"

She slowly nods.

Sagiri Mikage is a liability. She can not stay put and she can not obey orders and she is completely obsessed with Jack Atlus. I'm very sorry for her. Perhaps she'll live in this new timeline I form.

She stands up and is quickly met with a bullet to the forehead. She drops and splutters. I walk out. I am very sorry Sagiri Mikage. I pray that you find rest with your one and only love in death. I am sure that being with him, in reality, is truly your one and only deepest wish. And I walk away into the rainstorm that's started. A young man with deep blue hair walks into the building. I stop him.

"Sir, please take my most sorrowful apologies, but at least she has gotten her one and only truly deepest wish. Her heart deep down certainly was the purest I have seen in a very long time." I sigh.

He stares and runs inside. The rain pours down and all that is left, as usual, is me. No regrets. I will fulfill my deepest vow. Besides, as cruel and true as it may be, she's just another insignificant life in the end. Another tick on a piece of paper. I do hope that her wish and her prayers and her very soul is strong enough for her to join her precious one. I really do. I am very sorry Sagiri Mikage.


	17. Bruno

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **Pfft, Kiryu you so rude. Sorry bout this Sango, I don't mean to make you

Meltdown

It hurts so much. It so much knowing that it was I, I'm the one that got Yuusei killed. I must be a really sorry man. I must be really pathetic. I should just die, I should have been the only one to die. It would have been for the best, after all it burns to my core. Yuusei, the shooting star became a falling one, I'm sorry to the pit of my existence. If he could ever forgive me than I think that I'd never want for anything again. All I could ever want for is his most solemn forgiveness. I think I'm gonna choke. Aha. Poor Yuusei. I hope he's somewhere nice at least. I hope he's laughing even if he can no longer laugh with the rest of us. I hope he's somewhere nice. I want to go out for a ride. Maybe Kiryu will take me. My D-Wheel was confiscated by Security, they couldn't get Kiryu's though, not sure why.

I sit up on the sofa and look at Kiryu who's watching the news with his usually blank face.

"Kiryu?" I ask quietly.

"What do you want?" He growls back.

Kiryu's a very nice person deep down, he took me in after Crow and the others refused to. Then again he probably only did it out of pity for me, that makes so much more sense. He does hate me, rightfully.

"Could you take me for a drive?" I whimper.

"Why?"

"I want to ignore things."

"Fine, I'll take you I suppose. I need to be somewhere anyway."

"Ahhhh thank you Kiryu-San!"

I smile widely.

"Don't thank me and don't call me San. I don't need that from you."

Oh. Sometimes I forget that I'm not exactly wanted here. I wonder, did I act differently before? Was I a better person? Was I someone worth looking up to? Was I in love? Did I have any family, any friends? And if so why haven't they come yet? So many questions that I might never answer. It just makes me sad, most of the time. Sometimes, before, I could forget the hole in my memories by filling it with new ones. And now those new memories make me just as sad, so sad I just want them erased along with myself. I want to be deleted. But at the same time I never want to forget those precious moments spend with someone I love to the dearest degree. So stupid. I'm such an idiot.

Kiryu grabs onto me sharply and practically drags me to his beat up car. He throws me into the back seat.

"Ow, why are you so rough?" I shiver.

"You were spacing out again, the only way to get you out is to shake you out. It was a necessary evil. We're going now. Please don't space out again."

I nod slowly and he takes off. I quickly buckle myself up. There's been warnings of sudden rain, apparently it caused a small crash in front of someone's yard and now everyone's on the look-outs, people speeding or arguing or stressed are at a particularly high risk. Then again who would be foolish enough to drive in those states in these weather conditions?

Kiryu, it feels as if he's going really fast, the city is just a bright blue and white blur.

"W-would you p-please slow down?" I cry out. "You, you might die!"

Kiryu laughs with a hoarseness that I thought only those deep in the throes of darkness could laugh.

"I don't believe that be much of a problem. Who's going to miss me now?" He chuckles.

"What about those children you used to watch? Aren't you ever going to return to them?" I choke out as he goes even faster.

"Nico and West? They met with a terrible fate. It was my fault! As usual everywhere I go I bring death himself!"

I'm not sure what to say. I think I'm going to die here. Oh Yuusei, Jack, I'm sorry for what I've done. I'm child still slobbering on his thumb, my knees tremble, I'm so scared.

"Stop it then! Don't let anymore death pass your way!" A man much braver than myself cries out.

Kiryu calms down a little and slows down. The car then halts to a complete stop.

Why?

"We're out of gas." Kiryu laughs hoarsely.

Oh.

"I guess we have to walk back then, we couldn't have gotten that far." I mention.

"I was doing a hundred and eight miles per hour for seven minutes, we may not be that far but I assure you we are pretty damn far."

I silence myself. He's only going to get more angry. We start walking before he comes to a halt.

"Perhaps a kind soul would be wiling to let a couple of murderers siphon their gas. Though most don't us gas it is a long shot."

I nod in agreement and he completely ignores me.

We walk farther ahead in search of gas and come across a young woman sprawled out on the ground. She is bleeding from the head. She must be famous somewhere, her face is flawless. Maybe someone kidnapped her and she broke free or something? I head strange things happen in this city. Her eyes are shut fast. I hope she's still alive. I reach for her.

"What do you think you're doing Bruno?" Kiryu asks.

"I'm helping." I tell him.

"We don't have time to pick up every stranger in danger Bruno. We have to go to trial soon." Kiryu frowns.

That's true but, but I can't leave someone in danger. I gather my courage.

"You are so cold hearted Kiryu. How do you sleep at night?" The words slip out.

"Like a baby." Kiryu snaps back.

We're fighting again. Funny for me, I used to abhor conflict but, but things sure have changed. Though Yuusei would still be so-

"We shouldn't be arguing. Yuusei would be ashamed." I bring up.

"Don't talk about Yuusei like you love him."

"But I do, probably more than you."

Kiryu's eye twitches as some unknown force increases my courage by at least seven fold.

"Just shut up. Don't you have a random stranger to be helping?"

"You act so cold Kiryu. Funny as I seem to recall how you help strangers as well. She could be dying."

I instantly regret saying that as his jaw clenches.

"She? Looks like a he to me, despite the boots." He replies obviously trying to change the topic.

"I thought women were supposed to be delicate and helpless and men were supposed to be strong and brave. He looks very delicate and he is helpless."

"Who told you that?"

"The stories on television and in books."

"Are you seven?"

"No."

I reach out to grab the woman and she emits a loud and powerful screech.

"Don't touch me!" She shrieks.

"Oh. Maybe she is a woman. Excuse me are you a woman?" Kiryu asks the collapsed albino woman.

"No!" He barks back with a deep growl.

I pull my hands away and she stands up only to fall back down and be picked up by Kiryu.

"See he isn't screaming about me holding him?" Kiryu smirks.

A little victory to make him feel better.

"But I'm gentler than you. I don't know why he wouldn't want me to hold him. Maybe he's scared because I'm a man." I wonder.

"I'm a man!"

"But you are very delicate like he is."

"You are a piece of work you know that?"

"I don't know what that means. We shouldn't be fighting. Fighting is wrong."

We really shouldn't be, Yuusei would be so very ashamed of us both. So stupid.

"Put me down." The man shrieks again.

"No, you need help." I choke out in reply.

When people get worked up or yell I get so very anxious.

"Your head was bleeding and you can hardly stand." The rough man replies to our new companion.

The man stares at me before smiling and giggling and passing out in Kiryu's arms. He must have hit his head really hard.

Another beat up car stops by.

"You folks need some help?" The woman in there asks. "By the looks of it I reckon you're in a real bad place now."

"Yes, we do require your help. Our car, it runs on gas and we need to bring this injured man someplace safe."

She grins and gets out and takes out a gas can and fills up our car.

"Here ya go fellas, I always carry some round with me in case of accidents or some such. Really came in handy back when I was down in the Satellite, but y'all probably wouldn't know much about that. Heh. Anyway have a good one, a life I mean, your day must be pretty awful."

She got back in her car and drove off. Sometimes I met really nice people and it just makes me sad. I don't deserve any kind of kindness and yet they are always so eager to give it. So stupid.

We get in the car.

I really don't deserve this kindness, any of it. I killed two men. I'm a horrible person, I wasn't even possessed or insane, it was of my own weak free will. So stupid.

Soon enough Kiryu is so over the speeding limit if anyone was around he'd have killed us both. I'll count the minutes until we get back.

1...

2...

3...

4...

5...

"We're there get out." He sighs out as he unlocks the door and unclicks his seat belt and runs into the house.

I step out and follow, carrying the man in my arms.

Kiryu begins to cook. He's actually really good at it. He says Crow's better though. I start rubbing my hands up and down the man's boots. They are so excellently crafted.

"Stop that." The man groans.

"I wanted to see what they were made of." I choke as I fall to the ground; I didn't know he was awake.

"Get up weakling." He snaps.

Weakling is very much right, so right it hurts.

"Your eyes are dead." He mentions.

Ah, they are dead, dead eyes of a murderer.

"What are you doing?"

"N-nothing."

"Are you fucking crying?"

"He is." Kiryu informs the man.

"Get over yourself! There is no point in crying it won't change anything! Sadness is pointless!" The man sneers at me with laughter and hate in his voice.

I sob even more. I deserve these harsh words, I deserve them all! I'll let them burn to my very core, until everything about me is completely erased! I'm so stupid! I don't deserve Yuusei's forgiveness.

"Sadness is pointless. Anger is as well. All feelings are. They just get people hurt." Kiryu sighs with trauma so evident.

I can't even stop crying. I hate, I hate, hate, hate, hate everything about myself. I'm a weak, naïve, murderer and I have no real reason to even exist. None of this, neither of their deaths, would have happened if I wasn't around! Yuusei would have been happy. I was the burden to his happiness!

"Get up! Don't be so weak! Stop being weak! You're like me! So you shouldn't be weak!" The albino man continues to berate me, rightfully.

"Get up! Get up! Be strong! Antinomy's stronger than you! That's how pathetic you are! Androids shouldn't be this disgusting!" He sneers.

So stupid, I'm so stupid. I should have left when I knew of Kiryu, I shouldn't have stayed, I shouldn't have let my emotions rule me, I shouldn't have helped shove him down, I, what, I.

I hear a loud clash as several dishes are dropped.

"That is enough! How dare you do this to someone that was brave enough and kind enough to help you! What is this nonsense about Antinomy and androids anyway? Are you insane?" Kiryu screams as he defends me.

More kindness I do not deserve, even Kiryu feels such pity for me he wants to give me such cruel mercy. I am only worth pity after all. No other emotions should ever have been wasted on the likes of me! It only brought despair! Kiryu and I must be cursed as the same! To always cause pain and death! I wonder, was I like this before? I want to remember, I want to erase it all, all of my new memories and personality. I want to make it as if I was never even here. It hurts so much, even my precious memories burn. Yuusei, Yuusei! Forgive me! Please! I so, so sorry, so, so stupid. I'm such an idiot!

I get picked up by the apparent android.

"How dare you look just like him."

A slap to my face.

"How dare you make me feel."

Another one, much harsher but oh so deserved.

"How dare you be so damned pathetic."

_I want it all gone! Every memory! Even the ones where we were happy and you were smiling because it hurts and I'm weak, so damn weak, just as everyone says! I don't want this personality even anymore! I became a new person once, let me change again! Please, oh please, oh please, oh please._

"I'm, I'm sorry." I choke out.

I grab tightly onto him and so into his neck. He shrieks and slaps me off.

"Stop being so human around me! It's so fucking stupid! Are you punishing me? Were you built by Z-ONE to punish me? Is that it? TELL ME!" He screams as he throttles me.

And gears in my head begin to tick. That name, that name is so familiar it burns. Damn it! Just erase it! Let the memories flow back, let me be as I was and promise it won't hurt again! Promise me that! Yuusei! Yuusei! I'm sorry, I'm sorry. _I'm such an Idiot!_

"Z-ONE? Z-ONE, I, I, I" I cough out and it hurts Yuusei!

Yuusei it hurts! It feels like something is tearing itself from my skull! Please, oh god, oh god, please forgive me Yuusei, please stop the pain, even if I fade to nothing, just, just please, stop it! I'm so, so stupid Yuusei, I'm so, so sorry Yuusei! Forgive an idiot such as myself! _I'm such an Idiot!_

_01001101011001010110110101101111011100100110100101 10010101110011001000000111001001100101011100110111 01000110111101110010011001010110010000101110001000 00010000100110111101100100011110010010000001100110 01110101011011100110001101110100011010010110111101 10111001101001011011100110011100101110001000000100 01100110100101101100011001010111001100100000011101 01011011100110001101101111011100100111001001110101 01110000011101000110010101100100001011100010000001 00100100100000011000010110110100100000010000010110 11100111010001101001011011100110111101101101011110 01001011000010000001000010011100100111010101101110 01101111001000000110111001101111001000000110110001 10111101101110011001110110010101110010001000000110 01010111100001101001011100110111010001110011001011 10_


	18. Kiryu

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of it's characters.

**Author Note: **Sorry for the delay, some jackass was being a jackass, I just wanted his mouth to

Meltdown

Yuusei had always liked to put things in order. His D-Wheel, his deck, his life and certainly his boyfriends were neatly arranged. Bruno stayed over there and I was visited in Satisfaction Town and all was well. And never were the twain to meet. But oops my dear Yuusei the world is a small, small place that you could drown in if you dared to breathe. And so we two meet and everything fell apart. Surprisingly only one person died that night but this death sent us all into the depths of despair. I still have nightmares about that night.

The smell of death still lingers on my hands. I've gotten awfully used to it. It's always there after all. It smells like pride on my fingertips. How awful. Pride has such a distinctive scent, you can't ever forget it. No, no you can't. I probably won't ever forget this tragedy either. Then again all tragedy sticks in my head with a dark and stagnant water.

I'm pretty sure Lua was the first one to notice the calamity. He screamed, I at first thought it was his sister but as she is always so calm it couldn't have been her. Aki must have screamed next because it had a fiery hint of anguish that burns me to my very core. Crow was next of course, always overly emotional. Yuusei prbably remained calm throughout the entire thing. I, in a panic that I regret, ran down the stairs and as far as I could. I couldn't face the fact that I had killed one of my best friends. For such a stupid reason as well, but tensions were already high and he said something stupid, though I have to admit in the end I was the stupid one, so very stupid, I'm such an idiot it isn't even ironic.

Jack and I, we used to share everything. He was my best friend and Yuusei was my lover and Crow was our team's mother or some such. And everything was perfect, my growing insanity chased it away though and I was left alone in the throes of the deepest despair. I should have quit while I was ahead, I should have killed myself. But I'm just that stupid.

Crow claims that he's been getting letters from Jack, letters addressed to Yuusei. I think he's finally lost his mind. It took him long enough, we've all lost ours long ago. Ha. It hurts so bad it isn't even ironic.

The day started out alright, it was a gathering of friends I suppose, though I probably wasn't considered a friend by anyone but Yuusei and Crow by then, Jack must have hated me for as long as Yuusei and I were together. I had come earlier than most others, the sun was still visible I remember. I stepped in and Bruno was there and the supposed pacifist growled and I smiled back as I had smiled back when I was of a certain perversion. Crow was out, working presumably, and the twins were speaking with another young boy and Aki was supervising the entire scene. Carly was really excited and cheerfully hopped up and down, it was almost as if she wasn't drowning in the flames that consumed her poor heart. I embraced Yuusei and he left shortly afterwards and which point Bruno and I got into a fight. Yuusei came in and everything died down and no one told him of our spat, perhaps we should have. I regret that fight the most, we were in the sanctity of Yuusei's home, a place for friends, not enemies. I'm just that stupid though.

Crow came home shortly after that and we embraced as old friends tend to do and which point Jack made some kind of joke about us, I don't remember what he said but I remember that I was angry and glared at him. I regret that. Jack had injured himself in the kitchen and swore deeply. The boy who's name I don't know snickered at as a child his age would. Brave showed up at this point. Crow opened the door and he seemed very happy about the arrival of the Scandinavian. The happiness was rather short lived. Of course I can only blame myself for that, I'm just that stupid.

I was sitting on the couch with Yuusei as he rested a hand on mine and a hand on Bruno's. When he wasn't looking we glared at each other and Bruno would pout because, I suppose, he isn't that violent, not as violent as I and certainly not as violent as-, no let me be cast of thoughts of him, just this once.

I believe that Jack had the intention of cooking and once he injured himself left the heat on, so stupid. Regardless everyone was chatting about the various things that interest them except for myself that was sitting detached, I didn't belong in that group anymore, they had replaced me in all but name. It hurt so much, it hurt so much that I wanted to kill someone, surprise, I did. I'm just that stupid.

A fire had suddenly struck the curtains and as such everyone grabbed their most precious things and ran out, I was not aware that Lua and Ruka had been escorted out and it appears that no one else did either as after we collected the various cards we tried to find them and eventually we were forced to the roof. At this point the tragedy really happened, the stench of death and pride is still on my fingertips. Oh, just like before, right Jack? Jack knows. Jack knew. I'm such an idiot.

Bruno panicked and began calling out for the man he supposedly loved more than I did. Jack began to twitch with rage and pride took over to a shocking degree.

"You, you two are nothing to him! Just a suicidal brat and robotic doll! You don't have what it takes to be with him, you aren't perfectly tuned as I am to him. I love him so much! I love him so damn much! You, you two will never understand!" He screamed.

In a rage of passion and the hatred of anyone that threatened to take my Yuusei from me I snapped his sorry fingers, the hand raised to the sky is in my good memory. Bruno punched him in he face and broke his nose, blood went flying. Jack reached up to stop the flow and stumbled backwards. Bruno attempted to pull him upwards and I joined him but as Jack was much heavier he fell anyway. There was such betrayal in his face, I understand that look very well. I wish I could know what he thought before his death. I wish I could. I want to know of all the pain I have ever inflicted. But I digress; Bruno and I both ran down the stairs in the feverish attempt to be free of all this. It went as well as it could of, I'm just that much of an idiot.

I walk by Yuusei's side now.

"I love you." I mutter underneath my breath towards him.

He can't even hear me. Bruno can though. He smiles at me in a kind of sadness. The only thing we share I suppose, a deep despair and our idiocy. We walk along the sidewalk, me with my hands in my pockets and Bruno alternating between joy at the scene and misery in remembering how it came about. I do confess that it burns me to my very core just seeing him here but if it makes Yuusei smile, smile like he stopped doing for such a long time, than I suppose it must be alright with me. Maybe, maybe I will properly confess my feelings for him and he will decide that I'm all that he needs.

"Yuusei I-"

Yuusei heads up ahead, he must have heard something. Regardless I need to speak to Bruno, I need to convince him to leave Yuusei and I alone. I can't bear the thought of sharing Yuusei with anyone, not after this.

A scream rings out and I run to see Yuusei clutching his throat and gurgling. Bruno catches up and panting and holds fast to his supposed love. My eyes grow wet; the last thing I would ever want is Yuusei's untimely death. I run up closer and grab fast to Yuusei's other hand. With sorrowful deep blue eyes he stares up at me and with a smile like the stars themselves he chokes out in a garble of blood and tears,

"I love you both very much, and I'm so sorry. I'm such an idiot." He smiles.

Bruno rips some of his shirt off and wraps it around Yuusei's bleeding neck. We run off to go get help. Yuusei trashes about for a moment and the cloth slips off leaving his bleeding and exposed neck that shows all the horrors he's ever seen. And he dies in a filthy street beside two angry men. Bruno drops his body with a shocked clack and drops to his knees as he holds his head in hands and screams in anguish. I just laugh, it's all I can do. After all this is so funny. So funny. I'm just that stupid. Stupid enough to think that I could ever have Yuusei's love, stupid enough to think that this wouldn't end in tears. I'm such an idiot. I'm such an idiot! Let me die, let me die in his place! Let me dream a happy dream, please, oh god, please! I am sorry for everything I've ever done, just let me dream a happy dream for once.

Precious memories come flooding in.

"_Kiryu?" _

"_Ah yes Yuusei?"_

"_What are we going to do after we take over the satellite?"_

"_We're going to, ummm, we're going to take over Neo-Domino and live there as kings and get married!"_

"_That's stupid Kiryu."_

"_Ah not if you believe, Yuusei-Kun!"_

"_Hmn. Alright. I suppose I will believe. Though we might have to believe for Jack and Crow because they don't believe enough."_

"_Yeah we will! Need help with your deck Yuusei?"_

"_Actually yes please."_

It hurts so much to think that a man like that, so special and kind would die here. It just makes me laugh! It isn't even ironic! He was just that much of an idiot.

Bruno stops his crying and picks Yuusei up with a small whimper. He carries the still warm yet lifeless body with dull eyes like a dead fish towards the garage. I wonder what Crow will say, what Aki will say, what the twins will think. It will just make me laugh, I know it! It isn't even ironic! _We're all just idiots! _I trail behind them and Bruno doesn't even notice my presence, probably wallowing in despair, I know the feeling, so pitiful, but so fucking funny as well! Why give us despair? Why give us hate? What does this accomplish? Why do we even feel anything? It's all so pointless! Ahahahahahahaha! _We're all just idiots._

It's started to rain, ah. Bruno's already soaked and sniffling. I just laugh, laugh as it rains just like last time I killed someone. And you know what? MY HANDS STILL SMELL LIKE DEATH! I WAS AT THE LEAST RIGHT ABOUT ONE THING! I AM A DEATH GOD! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

We're already there huh? It isn't even ironic! Bruno kicks open the door and lays the bloody body on the yellow sofa and he just sobs on it. Yes it, Yuusei isn't in there anymore, it was only a body.

And he tells them all in a sobbing voice what happened and they all tear up except for me! I stumble out laughing! It's so fucking funny! How funny how someone so pure and true was chosen for death over a forsaken monster! God oh god, I just want a happy dream, just this fucking once! I am sick of nightmares! And you know what? It isn't even ironic. I'm such an idiot.

I collapse sobbing in the rain on the street.


	19. Yuusei

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.

**Author Note: **Yeah! You guys, it's the last

Meltdown

I understand how angry Bruno and Kiryu must be. I shouldn't have kept this a secret. I thought, I thought I had moved on from Kiryu, that there was no longer any love between us and so I became attached to Bruno but sadly, tragically, I remembered how much I loved Kiryu. Hah, I'm a terrible person really. But that was so obvious. Can't believe I didn't realize before, I'm such an idiot ah?

Maybe if they spend more time together they'll become friends and all will be alright. Maybe then we cane all smile together. Kiryu hasn't smiled in such a long time, I wish he would. I wish that he would be kind and enjoy himself like he used to. He must have felt so much better then. It's all my fault he doesn't smile anymore. That's why it's my duty to make him. I couldn't bear it if he would, if he was to sink back into despair. That mustn't happen. Despair is a powerful thing that leave nothing but hideous scars and tears and if Kiryu was to experience that a third time I do believe that he would give up without ever seeing the light. There would be blood on these hands and I wouldn't be able to cope with that. How weak. How foolish. Someone as supposedly strong as I am and I can't even deal with the issues I have created. I'm just going to smile until he catches it.

I've decided to call a gathering of friends. Anyone can come really, I just want us to forget our troubles for a moment. I want everyone to laugh as friends ought, I don't want anymore despair. We've done our great battle with the Dark Signers, we have redeemed them, surely there is nothing more. Haven't we done our duty? Bore enough burdens? There's only so much anyone can take, only so much before even the deepest bonds break and even the brightest stars burn out.

I think Aki is still suffering. She's much sweeter and docile now but everyone once in a while she says something that reminds us all of who she used to be. And sometimes, though I know it's cruel, I'm afraid that she'll become The Black Rose Witch once more. I can feel another battle in my bones and in my deck, I'm so afraid it's going to be one of my friends as I haven't seen or heard of any strange occurrences and everyone has been behaving strange. Jack especially. I don't want to fight Jack. He's my best friend. If something happened to him, if our bonds were to be severed once more, I think I would sink into despair. I just want a happy life now. Haven't I done my duty.

I always made sure to check Bruno away from Kiryu and vise versa. I didn't want them to know about each other, I regret that. I'm such an idiot for it. Anyway I knew that they wouldn't want to share me as they've both proven to be on the jealous side and so I kept them apart. They met when Kiryu was shopping for parts and Bruno helped him and one thing lead to another and here I am trying my best to gather as many people as possible so they won't start something and maybe form bonds with each other, I truly wish that. I want everyone to be as happy as possible and enjoy life to the deepest potential, even if it hurts my own happiness. I've seen so much despair and death, I just want to be completely rid of it. My dearest apologies for my zeal about it. I just want things to be as they are with happiness as it were. Secretly I wish we had never even left the satellite. My happiest, some of my only happy, memories are there. I'm such an idiot.

I've set it all up, I've removed all dangerous objects. Everything will be alright. Kiryu shows up first, he's early as usual. Bruno growls at his arrival and Kiryu smiles back in a way that chills me to the bone. Crow's out working, he has a lot of mouths to feed after all. Aki's already waiting in the kitchen and the twins are banterig on the couch with Sly. Jack is pouting as usual and nothing's wrong. Absolutely nothing must go wrong, only bonds must be increased here, not hostilities and certainly not despair. Kiryu ran up to embrace me as Carly in excitement bounced up and down. Wonderful. He takes a seat and we wait for the others to arrive.

I continue removing all sharp objects in the area when there's a rap on the door. Kiryu opens it and pulls Crow into a deep hug. Crow smiles and laughs at the scene.

"Get a damn room you two." Jack snorts before continuing staring off into the distance.

Crow glares at him and Kiryu lovingly punches him in the shoulder.

"Yeah no thanks." Crow laughs. "The only one Kiryu's getting a room with is, is Yuusei, right?"

Kiryu's joy fades as he looks at Bruno and back at me.

"Yeah, right." he chuckles.

Things are going alright. Good. I can't let anyone be upset, they've had enough. I think this entire city's had enough hardship. We need to bond and rest so when the next set of hardships arise we are prepared to deal with them.

Jack lets out a long swear in the kitchen as he presumably injures himself. Hah, didn't even see him leave. Aha. I'm such an idiot.

I rest on the couch and Bruno plops down next to me.

"Ah Yuusei, this is nice, I like meeting your friends." He smiles, tilting his head of to the side as the movement ruffles his hair.

I love him very much, I love him and Kiryu both. This is going well, I think everyone's getting along. I think I could smile. Kiryu sits next to me as well. I place a hand over each of theirs and my lips turn upwards.

"Fuck I set it on bloody fire!" Jack screams.

I quickly jolt up and grab the twins and their young friend and usher them out. I can't allow them to be injured, not after they were so kind to me a while back.

Everyone rushes outside, only Jack, Kiryu and Bruno are inside. Please don't let anything happen to them. Please don't. I just want them to live good lives to make up for what they've lost. I attempt to run in before getting grabbed by Crow.

"Yuusei, you can't do that, you'll end up dead." He sighs.

I try to wait patiently. I am so worried.

Screaming. A body falls over the railing and smashes against the ground. More screaming.

"Someone call Security!" Crow screams as he tries to help the man that must be dead.

I call. I call because I'm scared. For once in more life I am truly scared. I'm such an idiot, afraid of death.

"He, Yuusei, he's dead." Crow splutters.

Dead. Dead. Dead. Who's dead even? Jack. I know it's Jack. Why'd I pretend like it was anyone different. I'm such an idiot. Of course this went wrong, everything I touch turns to shit. Death. Death. Death. Once more our bonds have been severed. Kiryu and Bruno speed past me. They must have an awful smell in their noses, I do. The smell of blood. I hate it so much. I wish I could be rid of it.

_(timeskip)_

I curl up in my blankets. I can't even cry. I gave up on tears long ago. They only made life harder, worse, more horrible. They made me weak. Weaker so I was an easier target, a dead weight. Emotions, they're so stupid. I'm such an idiot.

If any of us ended up dead I thought it would be me. I thought I'd die taking out the Dark Signers. I thought I'd be the one who's funeral was being arranged with teary eyes. Nothing ever goes as expected though. Just ask anyone. Jack, poor Jack.

A letter is on my bed. It reads from Jack. Who would make this kind of joke? So cruel. Then again, though I am reluctant to admit it, people are so cruel. So cruel and so stupid; we're all such idiots.

I throw the letter in the trash and a cold chill consumes me. I wrap myself back up in my blankets. I just want to have some time to myself to mourn for once. I'm so sick of never being allowed to just lie back and cry. Sometimes I want to cry. It's so stupid, I know. I'm such an idiot.

My eyes grow heavy and I start to fall asleep. I wake up with another letter on my face. Another letter addressed from Jack. It isn't funny so much that I want to laugh and then I want to cry and then I want to punch things and smile and tell someone how much I really love them because I'm sick of being emotionless because I want to connect properly. I just want to be allowed to feel but as soon as I allow myself to even try horrible things happen. Just, just ask Jack. Aha.

The sensation of a pair of frozen lips press against mine. Ah. Even my own mind, mocking me for emotions.

I press my face against my pillow and laugh into it. Laughter at all the despair around me, it's just attracted to me, attracted to me as people are, how sad. And I cry because the world is a horrible place. And I scream and I kick and I shout because I hate that with all of my being. And I stop. I stop because there's no point. Emotions, they make you the weak one. Everyone else deserves to feel to the fullest so I have to be strong and brave and a hero. Just let me, maybe once, just let me cry. Okay? It's all I even want anymore. To cry and to scream and to feel every emotion and everything. I'm such an idiot. Jack knew that. Jack knew that. Aha.

More tears fall from my face, foolish and weak tears. Yes, yes I truly am such an idiot.

Another time the lips brush mine.

"Jack?" I stutter.

I wish it to be Jack very much. I want him to still be bonded with me, somehow.

_(timeskip)_

I want to go for a walk. I want to go out for a walk. I want to forget about my troubles. I put on my clothes and head downstairs to Bruno and Kiryu.

"I'm going out for a walk." The usual somber me explains.

The two of them get up and trail after me. It's laughable, how people want to be so close to someone as dangerous as me. We're just all idiots. Yeah, that makes sense. We begin our walk.

It's dark outside and rain clouds hang overhead and I can smell so much pride. Aha. Even my mind is taunting me. I can hear his voice up ahead. Even though he probably isn't there I run up ahead. I want my dearest friend back. I want to just erase that day. Oh please, show me a happy dream, just once.

A knife presses against my throat as the very visible yet still translucent form of Jack Atlus comes into vision.

"Jack... don't..." I choke.

He only laughs with half crazed eyes.

"Are you cold yet Yuusei? As cold as I Yuusei?" He laughs with an insanity that reminds me bitterly of Kiryu.

"We can fix this!" I cry out.

Another bond torn apart with a laughing madness that I'll never understand.

"It's too fucking late!" He roars as he digs the knife in.

"Jack, Jack I want you to know that I love you very much, you're my dearest friend." I choke as he slits my throat.

I cry out and Bruno comes running. I clutch at my bleeding throat and sink to the ground. He wraps his arms around me and sobs. Kiryu comes next and holds my hands fast. I smile, I smile without weakness, without pain, without threat, at last. I stare into their eyes with the last of my strength.

"I love you both very much, and I'm so sorry. I'm such an idiot." I mutter.

My soul is yanked from my body as I'm set to walking beside Jack. We must be moving on. Where to then? I want to see where idiots belong. And, and I can't even look at him, I'm such an idiot.


	20. The Grand Finale

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of it's characters.

**Author Note: **I lied. Time for the really last

Meltdown

**Let's start our story from the beginning, not the real beginning but the place where we started. Let's see the aftermath of Jack and Crow's lives:**

Rain pelted heavily down on the grave. He was the last one there, of course. He always felt his best with Jack. He was really fond of him, but to The King he was just a joke. He was a joke to everyone at the end of the day.

"Look how hard it's raining Jack." The man mumbled. "Even the sky's crying for your death."

A soft pause as the rain trickles down in rhythmic beats.

"Brave told be the story of a God named Hodur, how the other made a deal that if everyone would cry for him then he'd be resurrected. Can we do that please? I can't think of a single person that wouldn't cry for you." He begs in the black suit he never thought he'd wear.

The rain's already soaked his unusually bright and spiked hair to a flat style lying on his face. He really should get out of it before he catches his death of cold, though perhaps that's his intention.

"Yeah, didn't think so. Jack, I think I won't be around as much as I usually am. Sorry about that buddy but we did agree back in Team Satisfaction that we'd be okay if one us had to spend a lot of time with their girlfriend. Brave's a girlfriend right? Yeah close enough. Anyway I need to make sure he's okay, he hasn't been doing too well since the accident ya see. That's alright though, it's alright cause I'm here to make sure everything's gonna be okay. So Jack, if you really want, you could move on."

There is no answer naturally and the rain merely pelts down.

"Alright then, bye for now Jack, have a good day please."

The orange haired man turns from the grave only to get a black umbrella held over his head.

"Brave? Hey what are you doing here?"

Brave had dark circles under his eyes and much paler skin though his red hair was as vibrant as ever.

"I came to get you." He frowns.

Brave hasn't smiled since the accident; Crow's not sure how to deal with that.

"Alright." The man replies as he fidgets with his earrings.

Brave holds the umbrella over his lover's head as they walk back towards Harald's apartment.

"Brave?"

"Yeah Crow?"

"It's a terrible day for rain."

**Now for our second chapter:**

Harald slowly sipped his tea as he looked out from the enclosed space at the falling rain. He chuckles lightly in an oxymoronic dark manner.

"Ah, so in the end the wrong person survived, ah? No matter. I suppose it was only fate in the end. Sadly though, you had such a bright future, we had such a bright future. Then again by now I should know that the future is always grim."

He stares out at the gray landscape and the incoming rain with heavy lidded eyes. He waits for Brave to show up; after all he can't move anything from the waist down and he hasn't gotten used to his wheelchair yet.

"Blunt force trauma Dragan, it got us both. I really should have retaken my driver's license rather than buying my way out of it. Ha. Well at least one day, perhaps one day soon, the two of us will reunite. I'll never be cruel to you again. I'll never taunt you or harm you or make you hate me. That is a promise Dragan."

He continues staring out as Brave walks in.

"Have you gone for your physical therapy?" He asks.

"No."

"Why not."

"I dislike it. They are quite rude."

"Don't you want to get better?"

"Honestly? It is my burden to bear for the death of my lover. Whether I get better or not is up to the Gods."

"You're ridiculous."

"And?"

"Nothing, nothing really, not anymore."

The rain continues falling down, quite a melancholy sight, eh?

Harald continues staring out the window with heavy lidded eyes. Brave sighs.

"Do you want to go to bed?" He asks with an equal amount of sadness as the incoming rain.

"Perhaps." The silver haired man replies.

Brave wheels him into the bedroom and lifts him up and on to the bed. The older man grasps tightly at the sheets. He turns his eyes to face the former treasure hunter.

"Brave?" Harald whispers.

"Yes?" The red head whispers back.

"Let's... let's sleep together." He mutters.

Green eyes met the single yellow one staring into them. Brave frowns and let's out a small sob before wiping his teary eyes and climbing into bed beside his former leader.

In a hoarse voice weary from stress and tears and the incoming rain Harald stutters over his words, "Please don't leave me."

Brave strokes his hair absentmindedly.

"Ah, it's a terrible day for rain."

**For our third:**

A hero's burial, that's what Tetsu Ushio and Sagiri Mikage deserved and Kazama had tried very hard to make sure they got it. Sadly his efforts were in vain and as neither of them had any real family or friends he was left with their ashes.

Graciously he was coping fairly well with their deaths, he was never exactly close with them but they were the only people other than Jack that he could call his friends. He readjusts the urns on his coffee table in his apartment. He smiles awkwardly.

"Glad you guys are there together, being alone's just awful, I get it." The blunette laughs before brushing his hair back with his hands.

He lights up another cigarette to soothe his nerves; he puts it out. It reminds him of bacon and the fact that Ushio died of third degree burns in the hospital, well it's too much to bear. He stands in front of the small window in his cramped and damp apartment that only a man of the law deserves throws out all the cigarettes and cigars and tobacco products in his house. He can't deal with these kind of thoughts; he'd take a walk but the rains to thick.

"I wish I could have been a hero, a hero and saved you guys. But everything will be alright in this moment at least? Alright."

The former cop goes out to go place flowers on Jack's grave. He wonders if Crow's still there; he realizes it doesn't matter. If he's there they might talk and one of them will leave and he'll be alone in the rain again, if he isn't he's still alone in the rain.

Kazama practically dances through the rain filled streets as the incoming rain in the gray landscape and horizon threatens to drown him. He's dancing because he's decided to be happy, happy because they can't be. Though in his head he's screaming. Though in his head he's screaming,

'I wanted to be something for someone. I wanted to be something. Please just let this have a happy ending, oh please somehow.'

And he slips and falls in the street and cracks his head on the curb and it bleeds and he still doesn't cry even though he has every right to.

"Ah, Ushio, Mikage, it's a terrible day for rain." He whimpers as he looks up at the sky and it cries for him as he will not.

**For our fourth:**

Aki was the only one left of their original group. Jack was dead, Yuusei was dead, Lua and Ruka were taken out of the city by their rightfully nervous parents that finally came home, Crow's lost his mind, Carly was dead, Bruno's disappeared and the last person she would have turned to, the one that burnt her up inside, he was dead, dead, dead!

She considers walking back to the place where they all used to live; with a jolt she remembers that Kiryu lives there. She doesn't like Kiryu very much, he's too unstable, reminds her of The Black Rose Witch.

So Izayoi Aki stares out at the world with dull hazel eyes and hates it to her very core. She's still burning up inside; burning with the overwhelming desire to kill that she hasn't felt in a long time. The death, his death, must have triggered it; she can't kill anyone though because she's already killed someone and got away with it and any more would just get her stuck somewhere she doesn't want to be very much.

Izayoi Aki killed Divine just a week ago. She killed someone that she once considered a great friend, more than a friend. She didn't even cry, she didn't even react.

"I am a monster after all." She mumbles under her breath as she remembers the sheer joy she felt ending his life.

And she stumbles to a tall and abandoned building and curls up on the top floor.

So many things she wishes she could forget but never will. It was almost unbearable. No, no it was unbearable. And she stares out at the dark and stagnant water, the incoming rain.

"Yuusei, save me one more time. Save me from myself. The Witch, The Witch is burning me up inside!" She screams out as she scratches down the face that contains so much death and so much pure fire. "Kyaaaaaaa!"

She collapses in her place and beats her fists against the window. One hit, two hit, three hit and a burst and a snap and a deep and overwhelming crackle.

"Divine! Divine! Divine! I hate you! I hate you so much! I thought, I thought there was somewhere I belonged! I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate you!" She screams as the earth itself begins to shake beneath her. "Yuusei, save me! She's burning me up inside! Save me please Yuusei! Kyaaaaaaa!"

And the building comes crashing down as she screams.

"Yuusei! YUUSEI! IT BURNS ME UP INSIDE!"

And soon afterwards nothing but silence remains.

As she falls and her last breaths leave she smiles and stares up at the gray and lifeless sky.

"It's a terrible day for rain."

**For our fifth:**

That swords was snapped in two. She carried it to her chest in a despair that she thought she would never feel.

"Surely there is another, surely. I am so sure of it." The french woman says as she continues on her path to find the very first despair.

She took the sword after she killed Mikage, she didn't even know she did, didn't even notice. The frenzy took her over and she drowned in her anger and sorrow and desperation.

"I will live a happy life, I vowed it, I promised Mama and Papa and I promised a little girl named Sherry. I promised the three that they would live and laugh together and I will do that; even if this sword snaps into a thousand pieces; even if I choke to death on it." She whispers as she continues. "And I will use all my wishes and all my prayers to assure that I will keep every promise."

She shuffles along in a sort of daze in the sudden rain. She hums softly.

"Oh father, mother, I'm sorry for what I've done. Still slobbering on my thumbs, knees tremble, I'm so scared."

She continues her search.

"Ah, surely my heart is pure enough to find this man at the very least. Not all my purity is gone, surely, surely."

The blonde stumbles as she drops to the ground and finally release all the pent up tears.

"Oh father, mother, I'm sorry fr what I've done, still slobbering on my thumbs, knees tremble, I'm so scared. Oh father, mother, it's time to wave farewell. I'll fix my beat up heart and dash out for the wild!" She sings in a low and hoarse voice that sounds just like the sudden rain and the righteous fire that burns in her heart.

And Sherry LeBlanc, the one of light I suppose, runs out with fire in her eyes and tears all but vanished.

"I'm so sorry Mama, Papa!" She screams out as she continues running in a sort of blindness.

The rain strikes her so hard it feels as if it's leaving welts. The righteous woman releases a wild laugh as she runs out.

"It's a terrible day for rain!"

**For our sixth story:**

In anger he laughs, in agony he laughs. He's stopped crying even, he allows the sky to do that for him, all there is is laughter.

"I'm just such an idiot! Such an idiot! It isn't even ironic! Ahahahahaha!" He bursts out. "They're gone, all of them! The Death God, the Shinigami, strikes again! FEAR ME! FEAR ME AND YOUR INCOMING DEATH!"

He slams his fist against the bed, what used to be Yuusei's bed, and screams into the pillow.

"I just such an idiot! How'd you even ever care about someone like me Yuusei?! How? Huh? After all we all know that you wanted to give your heart to another all this time! So why Yuusei! Why did you do this! Why! Why! Why! Why, did you leave me? Yuusei! Yuusei! Why did you have to die?" He screams before whimpering. "Why'd you have to die Yuusei."

The problem with staying on Yuusei's bed for Kiryu was the fact that the more he lay in it the more it smelt like him and less like Yuusei.

"Why'd I have to go and kill Jack. We're all such fucking idiots."

He takes in deep breaths of Yuusei's scent; motor oil and grease and body sweat but Kiryu loved it. He lets out a deep sob before wobbling upwards. He needs a drink. He wants a drink. He's gonna drink until he aches and puke it out and do it again and cry about it and repeat until he's just a stain on the carpet because he hates himself and he loves Yuusei and his life is just awful. It's all just terrible. He's such an idiot.

He drags himself ever slower to the kitchen and flings open the fridge door and takes out a case or six of cheap booze and before he's even at the bedroom he's popped one open and drinking it half in tears. He takes the first three like they're shots.

"Ahahahaha. I'm such an idiot. I'm such an idiot. Ah Yuusei, I should have left well alone be. You don't love me, no one does. You can't love death himself. Aha."

Another one downed.

"You were so happy with your new friends, like you'd forgotten all about me. You left me alone in Satisfaction Town because you loved Bruno so much more than me. Aha."

Another two.

"And I hate you for that... I've only ever wanted you're love..."

Another.

"I'm such an idiot. Aha. I'm such an idiot."

He's got a fifty yen pistol somewhere.

"Ah. Please god, show me a happy dream, just once."

He's got one bullet left. A click. He places it against his temple. The rain hits down harder in a sudden storm. Crying for the three dying tonight.

"Ah, ah what a day, what a month. It's a terrible day for rain."

Bang.

**And for the final story, the ending of this and the beginning of a happy one, a happy dream, the one that they were all promised. The story where someone, something, stops the nightmares, because he's just that desperate. He's seen, he's lived, he is so much despair that he can't bear to see this continue even if he didn't have to reset on another accord. Our final story is the beginning of theirs:**

The young boy was, and currently is, tracking the signal intently. He's finally found it, the sword. The way to complete his mission and prevent the death of the world. He runs towards it with so much excitement though the rain threatens to damage him. He can't be hindered by such trivial things.

Sherry continues running in the same direction. I'm sure you understand what will happen when the two met.

Lucciano hums to himself, the simple melody of a lullaby that is soon drowned out by Sherry's now loud singing. The boy steps forwards silently as he tries to recall exactly what time they're supposed to go to the WRGP, they were late this time you see. The french woman runs forwards and a wheeled foot knocks. Her legs out from under her. She emits a scream; not unlike Aki's 'Kyaaaa.'.

Lucciano grabs the sword and his face falls when he holds the two broken halves.

"How, how dare you! How dare you think you could take this and break this and come back for more you filthy human stain! Do you not know what we were sent to do? Do you not understand? Let us see if I can repair this, if not, if not, you've, you've DOOMED US ALL!" He shrieks at her as the wind blows his loose hood off and reveals his face to the harshness of the sudden rain. "God, to think I lost this to you. I'm such an idiot. Right? Yeah right. Ahahahaha. I'm such an idiot."

Sherry stands up and makes a mad grab for the sword. She latches on to the boy's neck and rips at it and tries to snap it and he screams and shakes her off to the ground. He takes the pointier halve of the broken sword and drives it into her eye. She spasms and shudders and he pulls it out with a gurgle and a pop and the sword drips her blood as he looks horrified at what he's done. No matter what in the end he really is just an eleven year old boy, and can't you see it as he sinks to his knees and tries to vomit but can't because there's nothing to vomit. He lament the lack of feeling, of humanity but after years, and yes these cycles have lasted years, he's gotten used to it.

He fastens the pointy end to the hilt roughly and it fits nice enough for him to slash.

"So I have one more chance then. Right. Bye bye then." He laughs to himself.

He opens up the portal and steps through as the sudden rain falls.

"It's a terrible day for rain, isn't it?"


End file.
